Santa Clara official’s lawyers request mistrial in perjury case

As Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker’s perjury trial nears its end, his lawyers are asking the court to reconsider evidence previously excluded or redacted.

Becker’s perjury trial began Nov. 6 and centers on accusations that he lied to the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury about whether he leaked a 2022 report on the city’s relationship with the San Francisco 49ers to former team executive Rahul Chandhok. In four motions filed Tuesday, Becker’s lawyers are asking the court to let them present unredacted evidence and question witnesses, including Mayor Lisa Gillmor, who the court previously denied them the opportunity to question.

“The rulings excluded evidence and witnesses … that are relevant for a variety of reasons, including as to Mr. Becker’s intent as to both charged counts and witness credibility,” the motion reads.

The lawyers wrote in one motion they want to question Gillmor and Councilmember Kathy Watanabe about them potentially leaking the report. The lawyers also asked if they could question Ben Holt, an investigator with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, about his investigations into other potential leaks, including whether the grand jury members, Gillmor or Watanabe leaked the report.

Becker’s lawyers also filed a motion to declare a mistrial, which presiding Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Javier Alcala said he’ll take up Wednesday. In the motion, the lawyers argue their inability to use the evidence previously excluded, including the ability to question Gillmor and Watanabe, was prejudiced against Becker and prevented them from making a holistic defensive argument.

“This prejudiced Mr. Becker because he was actively prevented from mounting a defense as to the core question of whether he leaked the Report as charged and as to the perjury charge,” the motion to declare a mistrial reads.

Becker’s lawyers also asked the court to exclude late evidence, noting prosecutors introduced multiple pieces of evidence during the trial. That includes an audio recording destroyed during the DA’s investigation, as the investigator’s phone was reset after a certain date.

Alcala denied the motion Tuesday, as well as another motion asking for the case to be dismissed.

Becker’s lawyers have pursued information on the leaked report’s contents and how Santa Clara’s tense political scene could have contributed to the situation, but the prosecution has successfully objected at almost every turn. The judge denied letting the defense ask witnesses questions about dynamics of the Santa Clara City Council, the report’s contents and relationships with the 49ers on the grounds they are “irrelevant” to the case.

Councilmember Suds Jain testified on Thursday about a conversation between himself and Becker, during which Becker admitted to having sent the report to a reporter at the Silicon Valley Voice. Chris Montoya, Becker’s public defender, tried to ask about Jain’s political relationship with Becker and Jain’s response to emails from then-Interim City Attorney Steven Ngo when the draft report was sent to councilmembers. But the testimony was littered with objections from prosecutors on relevance grounds.

During testimony from two criminalists from the DA’s crime lab, Becker’s lawyers tried to ask about an error in a digital forensics tool that cropped up while extracting data from Becker and Chandhok’s devices.
Once again, those errors were shot down because of relevance. In one of the motions, Becker’s lawyers requested the opportunity to question one of the criminalists about the error.

The last witness, Holt, finished testifying Tuesday morning. Alcala is expected to decide on the two remaining motions Wednesday, after which the jurors are expected to hear closing arguments.

Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X, formerly known as Twitter.