Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker watches as the court clerk reads out a guilty verdict in his perjury trial in Morgan Hill on Dec. 5, 2024. (Joseph Geha/KQED)
Update, 1:50 p.m., Saturday: Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker has resigned after being convicted Thursday of lying under oath.
The city of Santa Clara made the announcement in a press release late Friday, including Becker’s letter of resignation.
Becker’s conviction stems from a 2022 civil grand jury report which criticized the influence the San Francisco 49ers have on city politics. Becker has received financial support from the 49ers in recent elections and allegedly leaked that report to a team official.
“It was the greatest honor, joy and privilege to serve as your representative,” Becker said in his resignation letter.
Becker was first elected to represent District 6 on theSanta Clara City Council in 2020.
Becker lost his race for re-election in November. The District 6 seat will remain vacant until December 17, when Kelly Cox, a Santa Clara University official who won Becker’s seat, will be sworn in.
Sponsored
Original story, 3 p.m., Thursday: Santa Clara Councilmember Anthony Becker is guilty of felony perjury, a jury has decided, closing out a two-week trial.
The 12-person panel in the trial of the South Bay official returned the verdict early Thursday afternoon at the South County Morgan Hill Courthouse, after deliberating for only roughly three hours between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
“We the jury, in the above entitled case, find the defendant Anthony Becker guilty of perjury under oath,” the court clerk said as she read the verdict.
The verdict vindicates the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, whose lead prosecutor on the case Jason Malinsky emphasized to the jury how clear the choice for guilt should be, and significantly mars Becker’s reputation as a public official.
Superior Court Judge Javier Alcala set sentencing for Jan. 31.
Becker, who has consistently denied wrongdoing throughout his indictment and trial, stayed seated and mostly still while the verdict was read out by the court clerk, closing his eyes at times for a few seconds.
After Alcala ended the day’s proceedings, Becker walked quickly out of the courtroom sighing and looking visibly frustrated. He and his legal team declined to comment on the verdict after leaving court, but one of Becker’s attorneys, Deputy Public Defender Christopher Montoya, told KQED he plans to file an appeal in the case.
The trial — which began just one day after Becker lost his bid for reelection on Nov. 6 — hinged on whether he leaked a confidential version of a civil grand jury report in 2022, and then lied about it to the grand jury as it investigated the leak.
“We take very seriously in the DA’s office the fundamental idea that when you raise your hand and you walk into court and you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, that’s what’s going to happen,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “And defendant Becker did not do that, and he lied. And that’s perjury.”
The 2022 civil grand jury report, titled Unsportsmanlike Conduct (PDF), accused Becker and four other council members of having unethical and inappropriately close relationships with top lobbyists and officials from the San Francisco 49ers, who play in the publicly owned Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Becker was elected to the council in 2020 as part of a raft of city council candidates backed by millions of dollars of campaign support from the football team.
Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky gives his closing arguments to the jury in the perjury trial of Santa Clara City Councilmember Anthony Becker at the South County Morgan Hill Courthouse on Dec. 4, 2024. (Joseph Geha/KQED)
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office charged Becker in April 2023 with a misdemeanor for violating his duty as an elected official to keep the document confidential until its public release and with a felony perjury charge for lying to a grand jury about his actions.
Prosecutors alleged that on Oct. 6, 2022 — four days before the report was set to be released to the public — Becker leaked a copy to Rahul Chandhok, who was then the top lobbyist for the 49ers.
Rosen said this case should serve as a reminder that the public expects a higher standard for elected officials.
“It’s also a reminder of the admonition that sometimes the cover up is even worse than the crime,” Rosen said. “So the thing to do when you have done something wrong is to admit what you’ve done and move on, not lie about it under oath.”
Chandhok, the prosecution’s lead witness, testified that Becker sent the report via the secure messaging app Signal. The leak allowed Chandhok and his public affairs team to craft an early response to the harshly critical report and get in front of its assertions, which the team called a “hatchet job” at the time.
Becker also is alleged to have leaked the report to a reporter at Silicon Valley Voice, a local online publication considered friendly to the 49ers.
Prosecutors also relied on the testimony of Becker’s fellow Councilmember Suds Jain, who testified at a criminal grand jury and during the trial that Becker told Jain in a phone call that he had leaked a copy to the reporter.
There was also a host of digital forensic evidence, such as remnants on Becker’s phone that show he deleted the Signal app minutes before speaking with investigators in late 2022 about the leak. Prosecutors said Becker lied to them as well about when he deleted the app and how frequently he used it to communicate with Chandhok and others.
Deputy Public Defender Christopher Montoya presents his closing arguments to the jury in the perjury trial of Santa Clara City Councilmember Anthony Becker at the South County Morgan Hill Courthouse on Dec. 4, 2024. (Joseph Geha/KQED)
During the trial, Becker’s defense team attempted to raise doubts about the trustworthiness of Chandhok — who testified that he lied to reporters and some of his team members about the source of the leak — as well as about the quality of the DA’s investigation.
Deputy Public Defender Christopher Montoya, one of Becker’s attorneys, said the prosecution wore “blinders” during their investigation and wanted the jury to wear them, too.
The defense also tried on Tuesday to get Becker acquitted due to what they called “insufficient evidence” to convict, but Alcala quickly denied it. Late Tuesday afternoon, the defense handed Alcala a motion asking for a mistrial, which Alcala denied the following afternoon, shortly after the jury was sent to deliberate.
In support of its request for a mistrial, the defense cited several issues in the case, including that the prosecution lost an audio recording the lead investigator made on an iPhone when searching Chandhok’s home for evidence, and said Alcala’s questions to some witnesses during the trial were improper.
Attorneys for Becker also claimed the prosecution turned over other evidence late, and that the defense was barred from bringing in some witnesses, including Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor, to question her about whether she leaked a copy of the report to others.
“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 defense wrote in its motion.
Alcala, however, consistently barred that approach throughout the case, saying that whether anyone else leaked the report doesn’t change the case against Becker.
Rosen agreed after the trial.
“The fact that others may have done what Mr. Becker did does not excuse Mr. Becker from what he did. And we investigated everyone. And we only bring charges when we can prove them beyond a reasonable doubt to a unanimous jury,” Rosen said.
Rosen said the maximum penalty in state prison for perjury under oath is four years, but said he doesn’t expect Becker’s case to involve a prison term.
“I think there does need to be some accountability, whether that’s a combination of jail time and fines,” Rosen said, “because this is very serious, what the defendant did.”
KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara contributed reporting to this story.
Sponsored
lower waypoint
Stay in touch. Sign up for our daily newsletter.
To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy.
A one-hour radio program that provides international news, analysis and information in English and 42 other languages. Their global network of correspondents provide impartial news and reports on loca...