Alameda County will pay $36 million to the surviving family of a married couple murdered in 2022 by a sheriff’s deputy who was hired despite failing a basic psychological exam.
The family of victims Maria and Benison Tran, including their son — who was a teen at the time of their murders — sued the county and the Sheriff’s Office in 2023 for wrongful death and negligence, among other things.
On Tuesday, Interim County Counsel Andrea Weddle announced that the Board of Supervisors had approved the settlement.
The couple was killed by then-24-year-old Devin Williams Jr., who used his department-issued handgun to shoot them both in the head and neck at their Colebrook Lane home in Dublin while several of their family members were present.
The family’s lawsuit and evidence at Williams’ trial revealed that Williams and Maria Tran, then 42, had a romantic relationship but that she had called it off.
About a month prior to the Sept. 7, 2022 murders, Williams had shown up to the Trans’ home to harass and intimidate them, according to the suit, but a law enforcement officer responding to the call gave Williams “preferential treatment” due to his employment as a sheriff’s deputy.
Additionally, Williams should never have been a deputy in the first place, the lawsuit says, because he received a “D. Not Suited” rating in his psychological exam during the hiring process.
Williams “should not have been issued police powers and a service weapon,” according to the suit.
The suit points out that in addition to Williams, the Sheriff’s Office, then run by Sheriff Greg Ahern, employed nearly 50 other deputies who had failed the same exam.
Ahern said in a Sept. 23, 2022 letter to the affected deputies they had been deemed “not suited” for work in law enforcement by a psychologist and could not legally serve as a peace officer under state law.
Ahern also told the reassigned deputies the Sheriff’s Office intended to have them reevaluated and returned to full-duty status if possible.
Also named in the suit is current Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, whose office sent out a statement saying the Tran murders uncovered “areas in need of corrective action” that resulted in policy changes at the department.
“Those changes included strengthening our hiring practices by improving all associated background investigations and increasing supervisory oversight and accountability over the entire process,” according to the statement.
In 2024, Williams was convicted of the murders and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
Another lawsuit ends in settlement
In addition to the Tran settlement, supervisors also approved an $800,000 settlement in a 2024 lawsuit brought by a former spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office.
Patricia Lee, a former television news reporter, sued then district attorney Pamela Price for racial discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination, among other things.
In her suit, Lee says she was fired for refusing to go along with the illegal practice of withholding public records from journalists who had requested them.
She also said Price had a “well-documented” animus toward Asian Americans.
“Ms. Lee experienced a clear anti-Asian sentiment during her employment, where she would frequently hear derogatory comments about her race made by supervisory employees,” according to her suit.
Price denied the allegations in court filings.
