Becker Found Guilty of Perjury, Willful Violation of Duty

Erika Towne

6 months ago

On Dec. 5, a jury found Santa Clara Council Member Anthony Becker guilty of perjury and willful violation of duty for leaking the civil grand jury report.

It took less than three hours of deliberation on Thursday, Dec. 5 to find Santa Clara City Council Member Anthony Becker guilty of felony perjury charges. On the second count of willful violation of duty, the jury found Becker guilty.

“I think that we all expect more of our elected officials, and this prosecution is a reminder of that,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosen after the verdict was read. “It’s also a reminder of the admonition that sometimes the cover up is even worse than the crime. So, the thing to do when you have done something wrong is to admit what you have done and move on.”

Becker will report to the probation office in Morgan Hill over the next two business days. Montoya asked that the probation office not speak to or interview his client about the facts of the case.

Further Investigation into Leaks

When asked if this was the end of the investigation into the leak of the civil grand jury report “Unsportsmanlike Conduct,” Rosen indicated the active pursuit of more information was over.

“Absent more information, we charged the person and convicted the person who committed the crime,” said Rosen.

“We very extensively investigated it, and of course, if people want to provide us other information about why they think somebody else leaked it, or how that can be proved, we’ll certainly look at whatever people send to us,” said Rosen.

He said the bar for criminal charges is high.

“The amount of evidence we need, as you can see from this trial, is pretty substantial, given our investigation,” said Rosen. “That’s a different kind of evidence, both in quantity and quality, than the information that a reporter may need to write a story and say and suggest that someone else did something like this as well.

“The fact that others may, and I just say may have done what Mr. Becker did, does not excuse Mr. Becker from what he did,” said Rosen. “We investigated everyone, and we only bring charges when we can prove them beyond a reasonable doubt to a unanimous jury.”

The trial started on Nov. 6 with opening statements and lasted more than three weeks. The prosecution called several witnesses. One of them was former 49ers public relations executive Rahul Chandhok, who told the jury that Becker leaked the report to him. Another was Santa Clara City Council Member Suds Jain, who said that Becker told him he leaked the report.