According to Alameda County Superior Court records, the two men accused of the murder of 61-year-old restaurant owner Cindy Le in 2018 have been found guilty.

The two defendants, Paul Paez and Donte Holloway, both of Oakland, were found guilty of murder on April 25 before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Rhonda Burgess at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. The trial began in December of last year.

Along with murder, both men were found guilty of attempted second degree robbery. Holloway was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon. According to the Alameda County Inmate Locator database, the two men are scheduled to be sentenced on May 23 at the Davidson Courthouse.

Both men have been held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin since they were arrested for Le’s murder on August 20, 2018 (“https://alamedasun.com/news/west-end-murder-suspects-nabbed,” August 28, 2018). According to reports, Paez and Holloway attempted to rob Le outside of her Alameda restaurant Pho Anh Dao, located at 1919 Webster St., on April 6, 2018, around 11 p.m. (“https://alamedasun.com/news/robbery-escalates-year%E2%80%99s-first-homicide,” April 17, 2018).

According to Alameda County court records, Alameda Police Department (APD) Detective Kody Burns said Paez followed Le and another family member from a restaurant she owned in Oakland to the Alameda restaurant in a Nissan Maxima. Paez approached Le and tried to take her purse, but she resisted. Paez then punched Le in the face, causing her to fall and strike her head on the concrete sidewalk.

In the ensuing struggle, Le’s daughter’s boyfriend tried to come to her aid. That’s when Holloway assaulted both the boyfriend and Le with a metal pipe, according to reports. Holloway admitted to a police officer to being at the scene and swinging the metal pipe. Le passed away four days later.

The ordeal was caught on the restaurant’s surveillance video. APD also used surveillance video from Oakland businesses Bare Knuckle Pizza and Mad Oak and spoke to witnesses to make the arrests.

Both men were charged with murder, special circumstance murder (murder during the course of a robbery), attempted second-degree robbery and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury. They pleaded not guilty of all the charges at their preliminary hearing in October 2018.

The two men were also initially charged with special circumstance murder (murder by lying in wait), but that was stricken.

Both men have prior robbery convictions.