A jury has found Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker guilty of perjury and failing to uphold his duties as a public official by leaking a 2022 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report.
The verdict ends Becker’s month-long trial, which covered accusations that he leaked the 2022 report to San Francisco 49ers executive Rahul Chandhok and lied to the grand jury about it during their investigation. Jurors reached their decision after just three hours of deliberating.
Deputy Public Defender Chris Montoya, one of Becker’s lawyers, declined to comment on the verdict.
The trial has been littered with disagreements between Becker’s lawyers and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, who indicted Becker in April 2023. Becker’s lawyers filed four motions Tuesday, including a motion to declare a mistrial, which was denied by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Javier Alcala on Wednesday.
During closing arguments, Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky argued there’s ample evidence showing Becker lied about leaking the report, including testimony from Chandhok and fellow Councilmember Suds Jain. Montoya questioned Chandhok’s credibility and argued the DA’s investigation wasn’t thorough enough.
Throughout the trial, Becker’s lawyers pursued information about the report’s contents and Santa Clara’s tense political scene, but the judge upheld multiple objections on the grounds the information was “irrelevant” to the case.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen has kept tabs on his office’s investigation into who leaked the 2022 report and attended court on Thursday. He said his office conducted a thorough investigation into Becker and the leak.
A perjury charge can carry up to four years in state prison, but Rosen said he doesn’t think Becker will get the maximum sentence. He added he wants to see some penalty levied, and the extent of Becker’s penalty is for the probation officer to decide.
“I think there does need to be some accountability, whether that’s a combination of jail time and fines, because this is very serious, what the defendant did,” Rosen said.
Becker will be sentenced on Jan. 31 at 9 a.m.
Last updated Dec. 5 at 2:14 p.m. Original story published Dec. 5 at 1:08 p.m.
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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