Santa Clara Councilmember Anthony Becker to go to trial next year in 49ers report leak case

Santa Clara City Councilmember Anthony Becker is set to go to trial next year for charges related to leaking a confidential civil grand jury report to the San Francisco 49ers and lying about it.

On Wednesday afternoon at the San Jose Hall of Justice, Becker’s attorney, public defender Christopher Montoya, asked Judge Daniel Nishigaya to not set a trial date, citing that they didn’t have all the discovery materials. The judge, however, at the request of Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky set Becker’s trial date for March 4, 2024.

A status hearing will be held on Feb. 7, as well.

Becker, who was wearing a black trench coat, declined to comment outside the courthouse.

Several Santa Clara community members were in attendance at the hearing including Councilmember Kathy Watanabe and Slice of New York business owner Kirk Vartan, who serves as a special advisor to Mayor Lisa Gillmor.

In April, Becker was indicted on a misdemeanor charge for leaking a confidential civil grand jury report about the 49ers to the NFL team and reporters and editors at the Silicon Valley Voice and on a felony perjury charge for lying about the leak. He pleaded not guilty to both charges in May.

The report in question, titled “Unsportsmanlike Conduct,” criticized the relationship between several councilmembers — Becker included — and the 49ers. It was supposed to be released on Oct. 10 2022, but a draft of the report began circulating on Oct. 7 2022.

At a March 29 grand jury hearing, Santa Clara Councilmember Suds Jain said Becker called him two to three weeks prior and admitted to the leak, according to transcripts reviewed by this news organization.

“He was just under a lot of stress,” Jain told the grand jury. “To be honest, I wish he hadn’t told me. But he did, and so I have to report it today.”

Becker has maintained his innocence with Montoya telling reporters earlier this year that “first-time impressions of a case are often wrong or incomplete.”

The 49ers and its owner, Jed York, have been big players in Santa Clara politics since moving to the South Bay city in 2014. York and the team have spent millions in recent elections, including more than $1.4 million to back Becker’s failed mayoral bid last year.