Man Who Fatally Stabbed Homeless Man on North Lake Avenue Faces Sentencing After Plea to Manslaughter

Sadarius Lawson stabbed Alex Dominguez to death on a Friday night on North Lake Avenue almost four years ago. On Friday, in the same courthouse where his case has churned through years of hearings and delays, a judge will decide how long he stays in prison.

Lawson, now approximately 29, is scheduled to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. in Department F of the Pasadena Courthouse after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in Dominguez’s death. The charge is a significant reduction from the murder count originally filed under California Penal Code Section 187(a) by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in August 2022. Voluntary manslaughter carries a sentencing range of 3, 6, or 11 years in state prison under California Penal Code Section 192(a) — far less than the 15-years-to-life exposure Lawson faced under the murder charge.

Dominguez, a 43-year-old homeless man, was found unresponsive in the street in the 600 block of North Lake Avenue, near Orange Grove Boulevard, with multiple stab wounds on the night of August 12, 2022. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Pasadena police officers had responded to an assault with a deadly weapon call at approximately 10:53 p.m. that night. They detained Lawson, then 26 and a Los Angeles resident, a short distance from the crime scene within minutes of the original call, according to Keith Gomez of the Pasadena Police Department, who served as the primary spokesperson for the case and previously led the department’s Violent Crimes Section. The department’s Robbery Homicide Unit investigated the killing. 

“Officers detained Lawson a short distance from the crime scene within a few minutes of the original call of assault with a deadly weapon,” Gomez said at the time.

Lawson was booked on suspicion of murder. The District Attorney’s Office charged him with murder on August 16, 2022, according to Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the office, and Lawson was arraigned the following day. He initially pleaded not guilty, according to court records. He has remained in custody since his arrest, with bail set at $2 million — a span of nearly four years behind bars before sentencing.

Authorities said the attack did not appear to be random, according to Pasadena Now, which has covered the case since the night of the stabbing. The exact motive has not been publicly disclosed.

The case has drawn additional attention through a civil lawsuit filed by Dominguez’s relatives. Louis Dominguez and Teresa Dominguez, filing as successors to Alex Dominguez, initiated the suit on December 27, 2022. The complaint alleges that Lawson was working as a security guard for Nationwide Guard Services Inc. and was acting within his scope of employment while providing security for the 7-Eleven store’s parking lot at 690 Lake Avenue when the stabbing occurred, according to the complaint.

The civil suit names Lawson, Nationwide Guard Services, 7-Eleven Inc., and L&M Ventures LLC as defendants, alleging negligence, premises liability, negligent hiring and supervision, battery, and wrongful death, according to court records. The complaint alleges that Nationwide Guard Services hired Lawson despite his being unfit for the position and that the company knew or should have known of his unfitness, according to court filings reviewed by Pasadena Now. The civil case has since been disposed, according to court records.

The terms of Lawson’s plea agreement in the criminal case have not been publicly disclosed. A no contest plea means the defendant does not admit guilt but accepts the conviction.

Voluntary manslaughter is classified as a strike offense under California’s Three Strikes Law.

The case wound through Pasadena Courthouse for years before reaching its resolution. Court records show multiple preliminary hearing delays through April 2023, and pretrial hearings continued through at least September 2025 in Department F, according to Pasadena Now.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Friday in Department F of the Pasadena Courthouse, 300 E. Walnut St.