The Alameda County Board of Supervisors this week voted to approve a sizeable settlement — the largest ever payout related to the Sheriff's Department — to the family of a Dublin couple killed by a former deputy in 2022 in a tragic love triangle case.

The settlement stems from the shocking, execution-style murders of 57-year-old Benison Tran and 42-year-old Maria Tran inside their Dublin home in September 2022. The perpetrator, then-24-year-old Devin Williams Jr., was an Alameda County sheriff's deputy, and this week's settlement by the county acknowledges liability by the county for not preventing the Trans' deaths.

As KTVU reports, county supervisors approved a $36 million settlement for surviving family members, but primarily for the Trans' teenage son, Brandon Tran, who witnessed the killings and who is now 18 years old. When the crime occurred, Brandon Tran was 14 years old and his mother, Maria Tran, reportedly died in his arms.

Maria Tran's mother and brother were also staying in the house at the time of the killings.

"Our hearts go out to the entire family for the tragic loss of Maria and Benison Tran on September 7, 2022," Alameda County said in a statement, per KTVU. "This settlement ends the legal chapter, and we hope it will bring a moment of peace to the family and the community. The County fully supports the Sheriff’s efforts to improve oversight and take corrective action in the hiring of sworn personnel."

The plaintiffs' attorney in the case, Chris Dolan, also issued a statement about the settlement to KTVU saying, "I think people should not look at the money, but look at the tragedy, and then they'll have a better understanding of really how this doesn't compensate people for what they've been through."

Williams was convicted in October 2024 and sentenced to 50 years to life for the double murder. At the sentencing hearing, Brandon Tran read a wrenching statement, telling Williams he is "the person who took everything from me," and that he was now left with lifelong "agony and emptiness."

"You destroyed my foundation," Tran said, adding, "You caused a pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone."

Via the settlement we are only now learning that other Alameda County sheriff's deputies played a role in protecting Williams prior to the murders.

Williams reportedly met Maria Tran at John George Psychiatric Hospital in San Leandro, where she worked as a nurse and where he was sometimes on duty guarding incarcerated patients — while normally working as a guard at Santa Rita Jail. The two began an affair, and while Williams apparently knew that Tran was married, she reportedly told him that she and her husband were estranged.

Williams went to the Trans' home on Colebrook Lane in Dublin to confront Maria on August 8, 2022. Police were called to the scene, and a female deputy with the sheriff's department — the department provides staffing to the Dublin Police Department — spoke to Williams and he told her he was there to speak to his girlfriend.

From the settlement, per KTVU, we learn that either this other deputy or another member of the sheriff's staff made efforts to cover up the incident, turning off body-worn cameras, and discouraging Maria Tran from filing a restraining order — which would have stripped Williams of his gun.

Dolan also presented evidence that deputies falsified a 911 CAD report about the incident, saying there was an "unfounded" call and there was no suspect identified.

Williams then returned a month later, barging into the home and confronting the Trans in their bedroom — reportedly accusing Maria Tran of lying about her husband's estrangement. After sending Benison Tran to go call police, he shot Mr. Tran from an upstairs balcony as he was coming back up the stairs. Following a physical struggle with both Maria Tran and her brother, Williams then shot Maria, execution-style, according to prosecutors, and fled the house. The brother was uninjured.

Williams fled to the Central Valley but turned himself in the next day after a lengthy phone call from the road with Alameda County Sheriff's Commander Garrett Holmes.

A subsequent investigation by KTVU found that Williams had not fully passed his psychological exam before being hired by the sheriff's department, scoring "D: Not Suited," and a subsequent audit found that dozens of others had been hired by the department who had similarly failed the exam.

"I guess the sheriff was in desperate need of recruits," Dolan tells KTVU. "And so they were accepting people who were unsuitable. And that is reprehensible."

According to the county board, the $36 million settlement will come out of both the general fund and a risk-sharing pool that provides insurance.

Previously: Former Alameda County Officer Gets 50 Years to Life For Double-Murder In Dublin