DUBLIN, CA — Former Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Devin Williams, Jr., 26, was convicted of the double first-degree murder of a Dublin couple, Alameda County Attorney General Pamela Price announced. He faces 50 years to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 12.
According to evidence and testimony, Williams was working as an Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy on Sept. 7, 2022. That night, he left work and went to the home of Maria and Benison Tran on Colebrook Lane in Dublin, and shot both of them to death with an Alameda County-issued service weapon. Evidence showed that Maria Tran was in a romantic relationship with Williams, though she was legally married to Tran. Williams fled after the shooting, but eventually surrendered to CHP officers in Coalinga, about 147 miles south of Dublin in remote Fresno County, according to Bay City News reports. He was booked without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
In December 2022, Williams, pleaded not guilty to the shooting. AG Price was criticized for a last-minute bid to drop all the sentencing enhancements against the former deputy, according to reports in The East Bay Times and San Francisco Chronicle. Judge Paul Delucchi denied the request, citing its filing shortly before a key hearing.
Surviving family members filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in October against the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, accusing them of bestowing Williams with “preferential treatment” due to his position. Williams had been dating Tran, and came to her house and rang the doorbell numerous times in August, according to court papers.
“I first want to thank the jury for their diligent work in delivering this guilty verdict,” Price said in a Wednesday news release. “I also want to thank our entire prosecution team, including our Inspectors and Victim-Witness Advocates who worked diligently to get the conviction and provide services to the victims’ families, despite the intense public scrutiny and questioning of our commitment to successfully prosecute this case. We recognize this horrific tragedy leaves a son without his parents and a community forever traumatized by this unacceptable and vicious home invasion attack on an unarmed and unsuspecting couple.”
