As the trial of Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker continues, his lawyers struggled Monday to seek out out who had access to the explosive civil grand jury “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” report before it became public.
Britney Huelbig, the assistant superintendent of the Santa Clara County civil grand jury, testified on the seventh day of Becker's trial that she couldn’t say exactly how she heard the report in query was leaked, but described it as a substitute as “an excitement.” Activity.”
On October 5, 2022, Huelbig sent a draft of the report – which accused several Santa Clara City Council members of getting too cozy with the San Francisco 49ers – to Santa Clara City Clerk Hosam Hagagg. It was scheduled to be released to the general public on October 10, but appeared in several media outlets just a few days earlier.
Becker is now on trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court in Morgan Hill for allegedly leaking the report and committing perjury by lying about it under oath. Rahul Chandhok, the 49ers' former communications director, previously testified that Becker gave him the report on Oct. 6.
Christopher Montoya – an assistant public defender who is a component of Becker's five-person legal team – questioned Huelbig on Monday about her role within the civil grand jury and asked her why she decided to send the report back to Hagagg.
A draft of the report is usually sent to the “concerned agency”—on this case, the City of Santa Clara—before it’s released to the general public. Huelbig said city clerks are typically answerable for receiving notices for the town.
But Haggag, the elected city clerk, didn't respond, prompting Hülbig to call the town. She spoke with Assistant City Clerk Nora Pimentel, who told her to send it to the Secretary-General's email address. The statement prompted Montoya to ask her if she knew why Pimentel had her email sent again to a special email address.
“I remember being told that Mr. Hoggag does not keep business hours when it may be more consistent with business policy to send the documents to the Secretary General’s address,” Huelbig said.
During his questioning, Montoya referred to emails with the draft report attached from Huelbig and other Santa Clara city employees.
“Would you agree with Ms. Hülbig that this is an email chain with you and others?” he asked, referring to other individuals who had been sent the report before it was published.
Montoya also fought to field questions on who else within the district may need had early access to the report – requests that the district attorney's office and Assistant District Attorney Aryn Harris often objected to, saying much of the civil service's work Grand jury is privileged.
After the leak, the San Francisco 49ers contacted Huelbig several times and fought to get her side of the story included within the report. Chandhok sent Huelbig several emails and called her.
“Do you remember how frantic he sounded?” Montoya asked.
“A lot of time has passed since that phone call, but I can’t remember it being carefree,” said Hülbig.
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