Man charged in double murder balks at mental examination
Thursday’s hearing in Yuma County Superior Court for the man who has been charged in connection to a double homicide was continued because he is not cooperating with a court-ordered psychiatric examination.
During the hearing, Superior Court Judge Roger Nelson, who is presiding over the case, informed the prosecutor and attorney Jose Padilla that he received a letter on March 18 from Yuma psychologist Dr. Ashley Bruce Hart II, who is performing the test.
Judge Nelson said that, according to the letter, Francisco Dominguez will start to take the exam, but suddenly will stop answering questions.
As such, Dr. Hart is unable to complete the test and provide the court with a determination on his competency.
Dominguez, who is represented by attorney Ray Bustamante, of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of misconduct with weapons.
He remains in custody at the Yuma County jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.
Bustamante was unable to attend Thursday’s hearing so Padilla, who is also from the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, stood in for him.
After rescheduling Dominguez’s next hearing for 8:30 a.m. on April 7, Nelson informed both counsel that they need to come prepared to discuss how to proceed.
According to Yuma police, officers responded to the 1200 block of West 3rd Street at approximately 5:16 a.m. on Saturday Nov. 20 for a report of a shooting.
When officers arrived on scene, they found two men who had been shot.
The first man, who was later identified as a 43-year-old Pedro Aguayo Ramos, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other man, known to be 38-year-old Christian Gonzalez, died at 1:30 p.m. the same day at a Phoenix-area hospital.
Yuma police also arrested Dominguez that day.