Ex-Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker files notice of appeal following sentencing

Ex-Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker officially filed his notice of appeal in the modern day kicking off a process that could reaffirm or reverse his conviction for leaking an explosive civil grand jury description about the San Francisco ers and then lying about it under oath In December a jury discovered Becker guilty of felony perjury and violating his duty as a executive official He was sentenced to days in a county jail work operation earlier this month and issued his first constituents apology to the people of Santa Clara for this long ordeal No information was without delay available in regards to what grounds Becker plans to appeal the scenario on which will be heard in the Sixth District Court of Appeal One legal expert previously described the Mercury News that his attorneys might argue that the judge should have let them present evidence to the jury that someone else could have been the source of the leak Unsportsmanlike Conduct the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury summary in question leaked several days before it was set to become constituents ahead of the November Santa Clara mayoral vote for which Becker was a candidate The record accused members of the City Council including Becker of getting too cozy with lobbyists from the ers the NFL gang that plays at the publicly owned Levi s Stadium in Santa Clara Rahul Chandhok the former chief of communications for the ers testified at trial that Becker leaked him the statement The jury also uncovered Becker guilty of leaking the account to a local news outlet Ahead of the trial Becker s attorneys were building a situation that someone else leaked the record and that he was being selectively prosecuted by the Santa Clara County District Attorney s Office We have reason to believe based on the evidence disclosed by the establishment that someone other than Mr Becker leaked the grand jury record to the San Francisco Chronicle among other doable sources deputy society defender Christopher Montoya and Grant Fondo and Hayes Hyde of Goodwin Law Firm announced in a report to The Mercury News last year To our knowledge the leadership did not pursue that particular leak We believe determining who leaked the summary is key to this scenario Last year Becker s attorneys subpoenaed Mayor Lisa Gillmor who Becker tried to unseat in and then-Councilmember Kathy Watanabe and her husband Karl Watanabe Various of the subpoenas were quashed with Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky accusing Becker at the time of using the court to investigate his political adversaries and media organizations he perceives as unfriendly to him A judge ultimately ruled that Becker couldn t use the argument that other individuals leaked the review Throughout the trial the prosecution objected to questions from the defense that sought to answer who else had access to the review before it was residents Before the jury deliberated back in December Becker s legal group filed two separate last-minute motions requesting that Superior Court Judge Javier Alcala toss the affair altogether They argued that the prosecution didn t present substantial evidence that Becker leaked the statement and questioned for a mistrial on the grounds that the destroyed late discovered and excluded evidence in this scenario and questioning of onlookers are prejudiced Both attempts were swiftly rejected Becker s attorney and a representative from the district attorney s office could not straightaway be reached for comment This is a current news story Check back for updates