Council Member Anthony Becker did not enter a plea in his first court appearance since he was indicted for felony perjury and “violation of duty” – a misdemeanor.
Becker appeared in court on the morning of Monday, April 17. During the appearance, Becker’s representative requested a future hearing for setting of counsel and possibly entering a plea.
There was a brief misunderstanding between Becker’s representation and Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky over whether Becker would enter a plea that morning. The judge determined that it was reasonable to defer entering a plea until Becker’s next court hearing in early May.
Becker was released on his own recognizance without having to pay bail. Between now and May 3, Becker will have to turn himself in to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office for booking, but he will be immediately released.
Becker did not speak to the media following the hearing, however, District Attorney Jeff Rosen did.
Rosen asserts that Becker leaked the confidential Civil Grand Jury report “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” to the 49ers prior to its official release. He specifically named Rahul Chandhok, the 49ers’ Vice President of Public Affairs and Strategic Communications. Rosen also says it was leaked to a small local newspaper “editorially aligned with who agreed with Council Member Becker’s position about the 49ers.”
While that’s presumably The Weekly, the newspaper was not named by Rosen.
When asked if Chandhok admitted to receiving the report from Becker, Rosen said it would be revealed when the Civil Grand Jury transcript is released in a few weeks.
Rosen was also asked if Becker was the only person to leak the Civil Grand Jury report.
“The investigations of the criminal grand jury are secret unless or until someone is indicted,” said Rosen. “So, I can’t answer the question other than to say that what the criminal grand jury does is a secret unless an indictment is brought.”
He says the evidence makes it “abundantly clear” that the draft of the report was confidential, and it is also “abundantly clear what Council Member Becker did.”
While there are no charges currently filed against the 49ers, Rosen criticized the team for “smearing” individual grand jurors. He asked for an apology saying the team’s actions undermined the important work of the Civil Grand Jury.
“They’re welcome to say, we have other information that we think would change the nature of this report. That’s perfectly fine,” said Rosen. “Here’s what’s not fine, attacking individual civil grand jurors. Attacking those individuals, smearing them, making their lives extremely miserable.”
Becker will return to court on May 3. He is expected to be assigned counsel and will likely enter a plea at that time.
View Comments (20)
Jeff Rosen, riddle me this, riddle me that. If you are justice, please do not lie. What is the price for your blind eye ?
How did the Police and Chronicle have the report before the release.
Corruption runs deep, you'll see.
The Riddler,
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When did SCPD and the Chronicle get the report and how do you know?
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The Silicon Valley Voice was apparently the first publication to get the report because Erika's piece about it was published at 3am many hours before San Jose Spotlight published an article and the full report. The Mercury and Chronicle did not publish articles until after the Spotlight made the full report publicly available for reading.
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Do you believe Becker leaked the report to the Forty Niners and to the Silicon Valley Voice and/or the San Jose Spotlight? Do you believe that he lied about this under oath?
From your secret friend The Riddler.
Buchser Alum, Who, haven't a clue? let's play a game just me and you
What's corrupt, powerful, rich and is a nothing short of a mafia boss ?
A. Mayor who thinks they are above the law and tells true lies with everything to lose? Or B. working class Councilmember with nothing to lose?
Again What is the price for DA's blind eye
justice is due, vengeance is coming and they can't play hide and seek forever. It's time to shed the light on the darkness
Rosen needs to look closer at the pieces in the game. The arrows on the board point to the Queen.
Any of this mean anything to you ?
You and the team you support are part of this too
you'll see
Riddler,
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I do not understand what you are saying. You can play at writing gibberish.
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I think these are serious matters.
Busher Alum, as your assuredly are inclined, recommendations are not to respond to the "Diddler." The Diddler offers no meaningful argument other than the 49er 5 corroborate with JeD YoRk as the "mafia boss." It is disrespectful, too, to refer to anyone associated with LGBTQ+ as a "Queen." The Diddler offers nothing to move our community forward. We ought to be glad for this forum, with caveats that some lunatics do bang away at the keyboard from time to time.
The Chronicle probably received it from Suds Jain, given his cozy relationship. More indictments to come I think. Annual SC clean-up day is coming sooner than expected!
Erika,
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Did Anthony Becker leak the grand jury report to you so that you could have a long piece published at 3am hours ahead of all other local publications? Or did he leak it to Carolyn Schuk or someone else at the Silicon Valley Voice who assigned the story to you to write about?
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If not from Anthony Becker then where did you or the Silicon Valley Voice get a copy of the report before any other news publication did?
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Were you or anyone else at the Silicon Valley Voice interviewed by the grand jury who looked into the leak of the report?
What happened to innocent until proven guilty?? There is likely more to this story than the Becker indictment! How did the POA have this report before Becker supposedly leaked it. In my eyes this is not a leak if it is already out there?? And FELONY perjury!!! What a joke. I think someone needs to look a little deeper? The mayor has STRONG connections with the POA. Has any investigation been done on the leak to the POA. Personally I feel sorry for Becker. I feel like he is a scapegoat to this entire ordeal and a felony seems ridiculous. Is there a pattern here? Don’t get in this mayor’s way… Mayor Mathews, Council member Caserta, Intrem City Manager Rajeev Batra and who knows who else. Apparently Becker is joining the list. I guess this is what happens when you narrowly escape with the mayoral win!!
Where has it been published that the POA had this report before Becker leaked it to the SV Voice (this publication) and 49ers?
I have not read that anywhere.
Also, Yes, Felony Purjury... the court system doesn't like it when you lie to them when they already know the answer to the
questions they are asking. The 49ers probably admitted to the Grand Jury that Becker provided them with the report.
Why would they lie to protect him and open themselves up to potential charges?
Concerned,
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Nothing happened to innocent until proven guilty. Becker is presumed innocent by our judicial system until and unless he is proven guilty by prosecutors. He was indicted and then arraigned and will end up entering a plea and may be tried or may accept a plea bargain.
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That is our process. The lesson for everyone to learn if the charges are true is to not take the side of a corporate special interest when one's elected duty is to uphold the public interest for the city one was elected to represent. And also to not lie to a civil grand jury when testifying under oath.
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If someone else has done this or has committed any other crime they should be investigated and charged if there is evidence.
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Do you think it is okay for a city councilperson like Becker to give privileged information to a corporate special interest who spent millions of dollars to politically promote and then lie about this while speaking under oath?
wkmuko1@gmail.com I agree with Concerned Citizen. Why wasn't the POA or the Mayor's office subpoenaed when it was obvious from the Mercury News and the SF Chronicle which the latter published an article about the Grand Jury Report before the Oct.10th window. Something is not right and I am disappointed with Jeff Rosen singling out Anthony Becker who said that he did not notify anyone about the Grand Jury Report between Oct. 5th and Oct. 10th. But someone else did. I wonder.
Wesley,
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Your entire comment is simply "whataboutism" to distract attention from the allegation that Becker leaked a confidentail grand jury report to a corporate special interest he is supposed to hold at arm's length in order to best serve the public interest. And then that he lied about this under oath to a grand jury. Because he knew it was wrong and wanted to hide that he did wrong.
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Your attempt to distract with an equation to the SCPOA is also confusing and makes no sense. Why does the SCPOA need to be subpoenaed if the Mercury News and Chronicle publish articles about the report? What does the SCPOA have to do with the Mercury and Chronicle?
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Maybe you do not know but the Mercury and the Chronicle were the last two local publications to print stories about the report on that Friday. This Silicon Valley Voice was the first with a long article published at 3am. Then there was the San Jose Spotlight around 9am and their article included the entire report for everyone to read.
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Which means that everyone in the world could have read the entire report after the Spotlight article was published and this was an hour to several hours before the Mercury and Chronicle printed their stories.
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Anthony Becker is likely being "singled out" because he is the only one who leaked the report to a corporate special interest that was a subject of that report and then lied about it.
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If you think others did so as well then you should be presenting evidence about that or asking for investigation. And at the same time condemning Becker's actions if he did what he is accused of.
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You seem to be trying to distract from and minimizing the alleged actions of Becker while also saying that others have done the same and are wrong and should be investigated. And this suggests that you are a hypocritical on this issue and your opinions and statements are politically motivated.
PLEASE... PLEASE...please... FIX yr darn comment section!!!!!!!!
Silicon Valley Voice provides a crucial platform to discuss issues for Santa Clara.
It is VERY difficult when words are sliced randomly in the COMMENTs, carrying over to the next sentence. Frustrating for your cause as well as others to debate congenially--as a community...
Is that by design?
Coll,
Amen to this. It is the year 2023 and a commenting system that does not mangle commenters writing is to be expected.
I wish the Voice would publish the full extent of Rosen's comments. Some of them are very chilling and should be of concern for anyone that values our freedoms and the concept of a District Attorney free from political bias and influence.
“By violating the law and disclosing the report to the 49ers and reporters aligned with the 49ers..."
Reporters aligned with the 49ers? So anyone who doesn't kowtow to the popular lines of Mayor Gillmor and Councilmember Watanabe, are now "aligned with the 49ers." Wow. So, having a differing opinion is a reason to label a news organization in a way to make them look "bad"?
District Attorney Rosen, can you define "bias" and how your use of it when describing a news outlet could be considered an attack on the Freedom of the Press? If you label publications as "aligned" with organizations you apparently do not favor, isn't that an attack on the 1st Amendment?
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"Rosen fears the 49ers actions (calling the Grand Jury report a "shocking political hatchet job") will discourage residents from serving on future civil grand jurors.”
Hmm... I doubt this will have any effect.
However, politicizing a grand jury to benefit your special interest WILL discourage residents.
Using the laws meant to protect society against those without the resources to defend themselves WILL discourage residents.
Leaving questions unanswered and un-investigated - such as how and when did the Santa Clara POA, which created their "Grand Jury Report" website on October 7 get their copy of the report - because it doesn't fit with the narrative WILL discourage residents.
Perhaps a better question to ask would be "Just what does it take to corrupt a District Attorney?"
1st,
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It is obvious to anyone paying attention that the Silicon Valley Voice and its publishers and editors and writers are biased against Gillmor and for the council majority opposing her and also have been biased for the Forty Niners.
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Carolyn Schuk has written articles that are essentially devoted to arguing the Forty Niners side in matters where the Forty Niners interests and their side run counter to the good of the city of Santa Clara. Miles Barber is basically a cheerleader for the team writing fawning game recaps.
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And the entire staff have written stories that are almost all without exception obviously biased against Gillmor and for Becker and Park and Jain and Hardy and Chahal and the Forty Niners.
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On his site Robert Haugh writes stories that are obviously biased in the opposite way.
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Everybody who has been paying attention knows this. Describing obvious bias is simply that.
The renter with the 1.8 GPA should come to the meeting tonight and apologize to the residents of Santa Clara and resign immediately. I hope you struggle in prison.
Tommy,
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Whether Becker owns a home or rents one is not relevant to his deeds and any misdeeds he has committed as a councilperson. It is ugly classism to attack him for renting the home he lives in.
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I have seen statistics saying that there are more renters in Santa Clara than owners.
Buchser,
I'm sorry to hear there are more renters than homeowners in Santa
Clara, glad I'm not one of them. I wish I could say what I really think of
Becker..
"Fortunately, my name was recently cleared when the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office dismissed charges against me. It was the truthful, just and right thing to do. Even though the heinous allegations were completely unfounded, they led to costly legal fees, lost wages and a lot of heartache. And they obviously have had a huge emotional toll on me and my family. Many ask how I paid the bills. Well, I used everything I had saved. My family tapped into a loan. Donations from friends and close family helped as well." https://santaclaranews.org/2021/09/30/my-personal-story-i-have-been-cleared-of-the-malicious-and-false-claims-against-me/
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Becker will have his day in court and, hopefully, all evidence will shake out. Until then, maybe relax and quit calling for a resignation ahead of due process.