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 nowadays kicking off a process that could reaffirm or reverse his conviction for leaking an explosive civil grand jury assessment 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 leadership official He was sentenced to days in a county jail work venture earlier this month and issued his first constituents apology to the people of Santa Clara for this long ordeal No information was this instant available in regards to what grounds Becker plans to appeal the affair on which will be heard in the Sixth District Court of Appeal One legal expert previously advised 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 overview in question leaked several days before it was set to become populace ahead of the November Santa Clara mayoral balloting 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 band 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 document The jury also ascertained Becker guilty of leaking the description to a local news outlet Ahead of the trial Becker s attorneys were building a episode that someone else leaked the description 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 governing body that someone other than Mr Becker leaked the grand jury review to the San Francisco Chronicle among other feasible sources deputy populace defender Christopher Montoya and Grant Fondo and Hayes Hyde of Goodwin Law Firm mentioned in a announcement to The Mercury News last year To our knowledge the authorities did not pursue that particular leak We believe determining who leaked the record is vital to this situation 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 A large number of 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 document Throughout the trial the prosecution objected to questions from the defense that sought to answer who else had access to the account before it was populace Before the jury deliberated back in December Becker s legal crew filed two separate last-minute motions requesting that Superior Court Judge Javier Alcala toss the scenario altogether They argued that the prosecution didn t present substantial evidence that Becker leaked the summary and requested for a mistrial on the grounds that the destroyed late discovered and excluded evidence in this incident and questioning of onlookers are prejudiced Both attempts were hastily rejected Becker s attorney and a representative from the district attorney s office could not straightaway be reached for comment This is a emerging news story Check back for updates