WOODLAND, CA – Prosecution, defense and the judge agreed this week at the trial-readiness conference for accused murderer Carlos Reales Dominguez—the alleged “Davis stabber” —at Yolo County Superior Court that Dominguez’s jury trial could take as long as 14 weeks after it begins next week.
Judge Samuel McAdam used much of his time at the pretrial conference reviewing subpoenaed documents, the process of the “hardship” selection/process, the length of the trial, and more details prior to the trial.
At the last hearing attended by the Vanguard, a motion from the prosecution to delay the trial was denied without prejudice; the motion itself was to extend the time the attorneys had to process new information.
According to the last coverage from the Vanguard on the case, Judge McAdam stated “this case is governed by ‘Penal Code section 1050’ advising continuances are ‘disfavored’ unless they are in the interest of justice.”
The court first addressed the subpoenaed documents, which entailed a course schedule from UC Davis. The other sets of documents were from the sheriff’s office, some of which were not available or could not be produced.
After the review of the documents, Judge McAdam went over the hardship process, which takes place prior to jury selection, this Friday, in the morning. The court confirmed both prosecution and defense will be present for the duration of the hardship evaluation.
The court then established a goal of 12 jurors, five alternate jurors, 20 “peremptory challenges” for Deputy District Attorneys Matthew De Moura and Frits Van Der Hoek, 20 for Deputy Public Defender Daniel Hutchinson, and five alternative peremptories for each party.
Judge and prosecution agreed the trial should take no longer than 10 weeks.
But DPD Hutchinson noted the schedule of the specialist the court will be bringing in for the insanity portion of the case, and in the case the trial does not come to the insanity portion at a certain point, the specialist will not be available until July 21.
Because of this, the length of the trial was set to 14 weeks, with an assumed break in the middle.
Both the attorneys and Judge McAdam then reviewed the jury selection questionnaire, striking out questions that were either too broad or too narrow, modifying others, and editing prior to the selection process.
The jury selection process is set to take place on Monday, April 28, in the morning; after the selection, the jury trial will start, and at the latest finish by the end of July.
