HEARING: Request will wait for competency ruling

From Page A1 with a motion to quash, or set aside, that request, calling the medical records “privileged” and the subpoena “overly broad and premature.”

McAdam previously scheduled a June 20 hearing to rule on the competency issue. On Tuesday, he concluded that process should play itself out before deciding whether prosecutors should gain access to the jailhouse records.

“It would seem at that point that competency may or may not be in dispute,” McAdam said. “I think it’s prudent to wait until we see that doctor’s report.”

Dominguez, still clad in the anti-suicide “safety smock” he’s worn for each of his court appearances, did not repeat the request he made at his last hearing to forego an attorney represent himself in court.

McAdam briefly addressed that matter as well, saying the upcoming psychiatric evaluation should determine whether Dominguez understands the legal proceedings and can assist his attorney in preparing a defense.

“If those questions are answered in the negative, then clearly he can’t represent himself,” McAdam said.

Both Hutchinson and De Moura declined to comment after the brief hearing.

Watching from the courtroom gallery were Nadine Yehya and Majdi Abou Najm, whose son Karim Abou Najm was fatally stabbed while riding his bike through Sycamore Park on April 29.

The UC Davis student’s slaying occurred two days after the killing of “Compassion Guy” David Breaux in Central Park, and two days before Kimberlee Guillory sustained multiple stab wounds in her tent at Second and L streets.

Yehya and Abou Najm declined to comment about the case itself but noted “we’re going to be here for every hearing,” Yehya said. “It’s always hard, but we’ll be here for Karim.”

“Karim, the beautiful soul that was taken away from us,” Abou Najm added. He said prosecutors in the case “have our full trust.”

— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenter prise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene.