Yolo Jury Convicts Dominguez on 2 Manslaughter Counts, Acquits Him in 2023 Davis Murder Retrial
Updated
Updated · The People’s Vanguard of Davis · Jul 22
Yolo Jury Convicts Dominguez on 2 Manslaughter Counts, Acquits Him in 2023 Davis Murder Retrial
3 articles · Updated · The People’s Vanguard of Davis · Jul 22
Summary
Two involuntary manslaughter convictions replaced murder charges Tuesday in Carlos Reales Dominguez’s retrial over the 2023 Davis stabbings, and jurors also cleared him of attempted murder in the attack on surviving victim Kimberlee Guillory.
The retrial turned on mental state, not identity: both sides agreed Dominguez carried out the attacks, while prosecutors argued schizophrenia and marijuana-related psychosis still left him acting intentionally and the defense said severe schizophrenia prevented murderous intent.
The same jury now moves into a sanity phase to decide whether Dominguez was legally insane at the time; a finding of insanity would send him to a state mental hospital rather than prison.
The verdict diverged from Dominguez’s 2025 first trial, when jurors acquitted him of first-degree murder but deadlocked on the remaining homicide and attempted murder counts, forcing a mistrial.
The case stems from a five-day span in spring 2023 that killed David Breaux and UC Davis student Karim Abou Najm and badly wounded Guillory, leaving one of Yolo County’s most watched criminal cases still unresolved.