Prosecutors in ex-Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker’s perjury case are recommending he serve “significant jail time,” arguing the former official has “failed to take any responsibility for his actions.”
Becker was convicted of felony perjury and violating his duty as a government official in December following a tense multi-week trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court in Morgan Hill.
The case centered around a civil grand jury report that accused Becker and other members of the council of having an inappropriate relationship with the San Francisco 49ers that included closed door meetings with team lobbyists. Becker was found guilty of leaking the report to the NFL team as well as a local news outlet, and then lying about it while under oath.
The former vice mayor, who resigned from his post the day after the verdict, has maintained his innocence from the start.
In a 13-page sentencing memo, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen and Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky argue that Becker “has shown no remorse.” The prosecutors cite a report where Becker told his probation officer that he feels his conviction was “about politics” and that “justice was not served.”
“These are not the words of a remorseful man who has learned the lesson from his actions and intends to put himself on a path of reconciliation and reform,” Rosen and Malinsky wrote.
The prosecutors assert that Becker also didn’t take responsibility in his Dec. 6 resignation letter, which didn’t mention his conviction. Becker’s resignation came less than two weeks before his term ended, as he had failed to win his November re-election bid.
Rosen and Malinsky said they disagreed with the Probation Department’s sentencing recommendation of probation, arguing that while his crimes don’t involve violence or the theft of large sums of money, it “does not make the crime less serious or make meaningful punishment less important.”
“Perjury is not a minor or technical crime,” they wrote. “It is a crime that attacks the foundation of the ordered administration of justice and undermines public confidence in the rule of law.”
The prosecution’s push for jail time aligns with comments Rosen made to reporters immediately following the verdict. Perjury carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. In December, Rosen said that he felt like the crime doesn’t feel like “a state prison case,” but that there “does need to be some accountability” that could look like a combination of county jail time and fines.
Rosen and Malinsky also argued that the Probation Department wrongly asserted that Becker’s crimes were victimless.
“Becker’s actions gave a wealthy sports franchise an unfair advantage over those citizens who did not have connections or the financial means to make significant contributions to gain access to information and power that the San Francisco 49ers had,” Rosen and Malinsky wrote. “Becker also abused his power to try to give himself an advantage in a political campaign, which impacted every resident in the city of Santa Clara.”
The civil grand jury report, titled “Unsportsmanlike Conduct,” was set to be released weeks before Election Day as Becker fought to unseat Mayor Lisa Gillmor. The report, however, appeared in several news outlets days before its scheduled public release.
The 49ers — who spent $1.4 million in support of Becker and another roughly $1 million opposing Gillmor — quickly jumped into action after they received a copy of the report from Becker, testimony during the trail revealed. The NFL team called it a “shocking political hatchet job” and investigated whether any of the civil grand jurors had connections to Gillmor.
Christopher Montoya, a deputy public defender representing Becker, could not be reached for comment but has said in the past that they plan on appealing the case.
Becker is scheduled to be sentenced on March 21.
