WOODLAND, Calif. — The father of former University of California, Davis, student Carlos Reales Dominguez testified Wednesday in Yolo County Superior Court, describing his son’s upbringing, family life and what he said was a steady deterioration in Dominguez’s mental state before the April 2023 Davis stabbings that left two men dead and one woman injured.
The testimony came during the defense’s case in Dominguez’s felony murder retrial before Yolo County Superior Court Judge Samuel T. McAdam.
Dominguez, a former UC Davis student, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with the April 2023 stabbing attacks in Davis. His first trial ended in a mistrial last June after jurors acquitted him of first-degree murder but were unable to reach verdicts on the remaining charges.
Deputy Public Defender Dan Hutchinson began his direct examination by asking Dominguez’s father about his son’s immigration from El Salvador to the United States in 2009.
According to the witness, the family hired coyotes to smuggle the young Dominguez into the country after efforts to obtain a visa were unsuccessful. The smugglers were supposed to deliver Dominguez to Oakland, where his father, mother and younger brother lived, but they never contacted the family, leaving them without information about his whereabouts for a period of time.
The father later learned Dominguez had been staying with another family member and was reunited with him after approximately three months.
Upon returning, the witness testified Dominguez did not recognize his family and struggled to adjust to life in Oakland.
“He didn’t show affection to us,” the father testified, adding that “you could see he was uncomfortable and not very happy.”
The father also testified Dominguez wet the bed for approximately one year after arriving in Oakland, explaining during cross-examination that the behavior had already begun while Dominguez was still living in El Salvador.
During that period, Dominguez’s grandmother traveled from El Salvador to Oakland and lived with the family for approximately six months before returning home.
The father testified Dominguez was very close to his grandmother and shared a bed with her during her stay.
Although Dominguez entered first grade speaking no English, his father testified he learned the language quickly, earned good grades and became a caring older brother after the birth of his younger sister.
The witness said he worked construction about 40 hours each week while his wife worked in fast food. He described the family’s Oakland neighborhood as a lower-income area with high crime.
As the oldest of four children, Dominguez frequently cared for his younger siblings, walking them to school and maintaining a close relationship with them.
The father testified Dominguez excelled academically while attending Castlemont High School and participated in football, soccer, track and field, wrestling and swimming.
Hutchinson then shifted his questioning to the family dynamic.
The father testified his wife would sometimes become angry over seemingly minor matters and had difficulty calming down. He estimated that “seventy to eighty percent” of their arguments were started by her.
According to the witness, some arguments became physical, requiring him to restrain his wife. He recalled one occasion when he locked her in a room while she yelled for Dominguez to help her.
The witness also described a family trip to Las Vegas shortly before Dominguez started college at UC Davis, during which his wife became angry and refused to leave the hotel room for two to three days until the family returned to California.
Asked whether he physically disciplined Dominguez while he was growing up, the father acknowledged that he did.
He testified he punished his son by spanking him, requiring him to hold books over his head, striking him on the legs and buttocks with a belt and, on one occasion, making him kneel on rice while holding books overhead.
When Hutchinson asked why he used those forms of discipline, the father replied, “This was a way I had been punished.”
The father also recalled an incident after Dominguez attended a nearby party despite being told not to go.
He testified the two argued before he ordered Dominguez to leave the house and remove his clothes because he had purchased them. Dominguez remained outside naked before eventually being allowed back inside.
The father testified neither he nor his wife helped Dominguez apply to college or assisted him academically.
Asked how he felt when Dominguez was accepted to UC Davis, the witness said he was proud because he had never been able to pursue higher education himself.
At about the same time Dominguez enrolled at UC Davis, the family moved from Oakland to Tracy. The father testified he and his wife drove their son to campus at the start of his freshman year.
During Dominguez’s first year, the witness said they spoke several times each week and that Dominguez regularly returned home during school breaks.
He also testified Dominguez began dating a girlfriend during his freshman year, and the defense introduced a photograph from a family trip to Las Vegas showing the couple embracing.
The father testified significant behavioral changes emerged during Dominguez’s second year at UC Davis.
According to the witness, Dominguez became increasingly slow to respond to messages, lost weight, allowed his hair to grow long, showered less frequently and withdrew from physical activities.
The father also testified Dominguez frequently stared blankly at walls.
When Hutchinson asked whether he became concerned about his son’s well-being, the witness replied that he did.
The father testified Dominguez’s condition continued to worsen during his third year at UC Davis.
He described his son during Christmas break as extremely thin, unkempt and exhibiting poor hygiene.
Asked whether he could tell “something was wrong” with Dominguez, the father replied, “Yes,” although he acknowledged that “it didn’t enter my mind to take him to the doctor.”
Following Christmas break, communication with Dominguez became increasingly limited.
The witness testified he and his wife discussed driving to Davis to check on their son but ultimately decided against it because he did not want to miss work. He testified his wife believed Dominguez, as an adult, could care for himself.
When Hutchinson asked whether parents have a moral obligation to care for children after they turn 18, the father responded, “I think not.”
The father testified the last time he saw Dominguez before the attacks was at his younger brother’s birthday party, where he again appeared extremely thin, disheveled and withdrawn.
He said he later learned of Dominguez’s arrest through a phone call from a reporter seeking information about the case.
Toward the conclusion of direct examination, Hutchinson asked about mental illness within the family.
The father testified his sister, who lives in El Salvador, has a mental illness, although he said he does not know the diagnosis.
During cross-examination, Deputy District Attorney Matt De Moura asked whether the witness had schizophrenia, epilepsy or any diagnosed mental illness, to which the father replied that he did not.
De Moura also asked whether the ordeal had been difficult for the family.
The witness responded that it had, expressing concern for his younger children and saying he wanted to protect them.
The prosecutor questioned the father about Dominguez’s marijuana use.
The father testified he first discovered marijuana in his son’s room after Dominguez returned home following his freshman year at UC Davis. He said he worried the drug would negatively affect Dominguez’s education and expose his younger children to drugs, adding that he attempted to discourage Dominguez from using marijuana but was unsuccessful.
De Moura also revisited Dominguez’s immigration to the United States.
The father testified the family turned to coyotes only after a visa application was denied because they believed it was the only way to reunite the family.
The witness also confirmed that although Dominguez initially appeared uncomfortable and withdrawn after arriving in Oakland, he eventually adjusted to his new surroundings.
The retrial is scheduled to resume Thursday before Judge McAdam in Yolo County Superior Court.
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