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 present 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 unveiled Becker guilty of felony perjury and violating his duty as a authorities official He was sentenced to days in a county jail work effort earlier this month and issued his first population apology to the people of Santa Clara for this long ordeal No information was straightaway available in regards to what grounds Becker plans to appeal the development on which will be heard in the Sixth District Court of Appeal One legal expert previously communicated 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 document in question leaked several days before it was set to become population ahead of the November Santa Clara mayoral electoral contest 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 crew 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 description The jury also located Becker guilty of leaking the record to a local news outlet Ahead of the trial Becker s attorneys were building a circumstance that someone else leaked the overview 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 authorities that someone other than Mr Becker leaked the grand jury record to the San Francisco Chronicle among other practicable sources deputy masses defender Christopher Montoya and Grant Fondo and Hayes Hyde of Goodwin Law Firm announced in a announcement to The Mercury News last year To our knowledge the regime did not pursue that particular leak We believe determining who leaked the statement is essential to this matter 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 Multiple 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 description Throughout the trial the prosecution objected to questions from the defense that sought to answer who else had access to the analysis before it was inhabitants Before the jury deliberated back in December Becker s legal association filed two separate last-minute motions requesting that Superior Court Judge Javier Alcala toss the episode altogether They argued that the prosecution didn t present substantial evidence that Becker leaked the description and appealed for a mistrial on the grounds that the destroyed late discovered and excluded evidence in this development and questioning of spectators are prejudiced Both attempts were hurriedly rejected Becker s attorney and a representative from the district attorney s office could not without delay be reached for comment This is a current news story Check back for updates