Lawyers for Alameda deputy accused of killing two want his psychological records, but county is fighting it in court

DUBLIN — The defense team for a former Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and her husband have filed a subpoena seeking his psychological records and background file during his time as a peace officer.

The attorneys say the records are likely to assist them as they defend 24-year-old Devin Williams Jr. against charges that carry a potential death sentence.

The records would include any psychological exams, performance reviews and details on the process for hiring Williams, according to court records. But the county is fighting it, arguing in court that Williams’ defense is entitled to nothing.

Williams was charged last September with two counts of murder for allegedly using his service pistol to fatally shoot 42-year-old Maria Tran and her husband, Benison Tran, inside their Dublin home.

This new legal debate over access to his personnel file comes after intense scrutiny on the county’s hiring process that prompted dozens of deputies to be placed on leave last year.

Just weeks after Williams’ arrest, Alameda County officials confirmed that 47 deputies were hired over the last six years despite unsatisfactory scores on their psychological exams established by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, known as POST. Most of the deputies were later returned to duty after passing subsequent psych exams, but the controversy prompted similar audits across California, including in San Francisco and Contra Costa County.

Williams’ arrest was the reason for the Alameda County audit, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office said at the time.

Williams’ attorneys, Matthew Dalton and Marvin Lew, argued in a court motion that “any evidence of Mr. Williams’ good moral character” contained in his personnel and background file “could assist his defense by establishing his character for non-violence.”

“Such evidence could form the basis tor a mental health defense, or provide a baseline for a later psychological examination,” the attorneys wrote. “Any psychological evaluation will also bear on issues of intent and may, itself, constitute mitigation or produce investigative leads for mitigation.”

In a motion to quash the subpoena, Deputy County Counsel Beatrice Liu wrote that the defense is seeking, “confidential, privileged, private, sensitive, and protected information that is not necessary and/or relevant to the criminal proceeding,” and that Williams signed a waiver restricting his access to the file five months before the homicides.

“Further, the disclosure of the background investigation file would jeopardize all law enforcement agencies’ ability to conduct thorough and complete background checks on its peace officer candidates in the future as the confidentiality of the process could no longer be relied upon,” Liu wrote.

Dalton and Lew responded to the argument by citing comments Alameda County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Kelly, the department’s former spokesman, gave to the news station KTVU confirming that Williams’ arrest was the impetus behind the audit that resulted in 47 deputies placed on leave.

“If the County had any legitimate claim or privilege relating to Mr. Williams’ psychological examinations, they have clearly waived that privilege by reporting its results to the news media,” the defense motion reads.

It is unclear whether the personnel records include any reference to an incident a month before the killings, when Williams showed up at the Trans’ home unannounced. The incident prompted a response by police, but Williams was not arrested or detained and explained to the responding deputy that he was looking for his girlfriend.

The motive for the double homicide, according to prosecutors, was Williams’ discovery that Maria Tran was married. He allegedly showed up to her workplace at a county medical facility hours before the killings and had a heated discussion with her, but colleagues told police they couldn’t hear what was said.

Williams faces capital murder charges, but that could soon change. The charges were filed by the previous administration under former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. In January, incoming District Attorney Pamela Price was sworn into office. Price ran on a platform of justice reform, including adamant opposition to not just the death penalty but to sentences that carry life without the possibility of parole.

Price has already reduced special circumstances charges in one case — a onetime Bay Area resident charged with murdering two women and with kidnapping a young girl in a separate incident. Nothing in Williams’ court file, though, suggests that Price or her administration has moved to review Williams’ special circumstances charges.

The case is moving at a snail-like pace. Williams has pleaded not guilty, but his recent court appearances have been brief with little substance. On Feb. 1, he appeared in court for less than five minutes, enough time for attorneys to set a pretrial conference on March 7.

Williams is being housed in the Contra Costa County jail system, as opposed to Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail, because he had worked at the Dublin jail as a guard. In fact, authorities say Williams clocked out from a shift at Santa Rita, drove to the Trans’ Dublin home, broke inside the residence and fatally shot them both while a family member tried get in between Williams and his victims.

A day later, Williams was back in Santa Rita, this time as an inmate following his arrest near Coalinga. He was later transferred to the Martinez Detention Facility, where he remains on a no-bail hold.