Tran Family: $36 Million Settlement After a Deputy Who Failed His Psych Exam Killed a Dublin Couple
Chris Dolan represented the surviving Tran family and reached a $36 million settlement with Alameda County after an off-duty deputy who had failed his psychological exam shot Maria and Benison Tran in their Dublin home.
What happened
On September 7, 2022, an off-duty Alameda County sheriff's deputy named Devin Williams Jr. drove to a home in Dublin, California, and shot Maria Tran and her husband, Benison Tran. Maria, 42, worked as a nurse. Benison was 57. Williams, then 24, had pursued a relationship with Maria that she ended. About a month before the killings he had gone to the family's house to harass and intimidate the couple.
Several relatives were inside when the shooting happened, including the couple's teenage son, who survived and was among those who witnessed the crime. Williams was arrested, and in 2024 a jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
Chris Dolan of the Dolan Law Firm filed a wrongful-death suit for the surviving Tran family. The central claim was that the county should never have handed Williams a badge and a service weapon. During the hiring process he had received a "D. Not Suited" rating on his psychological evaluation, failing in particular on impulse control. The county hired him anyway in 2021. Court filings stated that roughly 50 other deputies in the same office had also failed that same exam and remained on the job.
The case also pointed to what happened in the weeks before the deaths. The suit alleged that when Williams visited the Tran home to threaten the couple, responding deputies treated him favorably because he was one of their own. According to the filings, officers doctored a 911 call, turned off a body camera, and advised Maria not to seek a restraining order, a step that could have led to Williams losing his gun.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved the $36 million settlement on May 12, 2026. The money goes to the relatives who were present, including the couple's son, Maria's brother, her mother, and her cousin. "This is a direct result of the failures of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, not once in just hiring a fellow who failed a psychological exam, but twice," Dolan said, pointing to both the hiring decision and the unrecorded visit to the home. Because the parties settled, the figure was not subject to reduction on appeal. The Sheriff's Office said it has since strengthened its hiring and background investigation practices.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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