An audio recording that documented a search warrant being served on an ex-49ers executive’s home as investigators compiled evidence against Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker was “destroyed,” Becker’s attorneys revealed in court.
Ben Holt, a criminal investigator with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, testified on Monday in Superior Court in Morgan Hill that he is “responsible for evidence being lost” involving the prosecution’s star witness — Rahul Chandhok, the 49ers’ former chief of communications.
Chandhok testified at the start of the trial that the vice mayor leaked him a copy of “Unsportsmanlike Conduct,” a 2022 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report criticizing the team’s relationship with Becker and other members of the council, several days before it became public.
Becker, who recently lost his re-election bid, is on trial for allegedly leaking the report to the 49ers and a local news outlet, as well as perjuring himself under oath. His trial resumed on Monday after taking a week-long break.
The destroyed audio recording captured the events of Jan. 12, 2023, when a group of five officers — including Holt — served Chandhok with a search warrant at his San Francisco home.
After the team searched some of the home and seized Chandhok’s cell phone, the former 49ers exec asked to call his attorney, according to Holt. The investigator testified that they searched a room to make sure there wasn’t any evidence inside it, and then allowed him to make the call in private.
While Chandhok was on the phone, Holt said he accidentally captured some of the conversation on his recorder as he walked down the hallway — which meant the recording contained privileged attorney-client communications. Holt said that instead of following standard procedure and extracting and uploading the audio file, he would need to send it to a special master to review whether it was something the prosecution and the defense should have access to.
“I didn’t think it was a recording that I should have,” Holt testified.
But he didn’t do that, and earlier this year, he received a new phone from the DA’s office. His old one was factory reset and wiped.
Holt testified that he discovered it had been destroyed when he went to retrieve the recording in preparation for the trial. Becker’s attorneys learned of the destroyed evidence through an email on Oct. 31 — the day the court began jury selection.
One of Becker’s attorneys, deputy public defender Christopher Montoya, questioned Holt over why he didn’t include certain information in his reports, such as the issue with the recording, that Chandhok was allowed to talk on the phone in private and that Holt had his phone replaced.
“There were not statements obtained. This search warrant and Mr. Chandhok’s conversation with his attorney were just so insignificant to me that ultimately I just forgot,” Holt said of the recording.
During a recross-examination, Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky asked Holt if he included every item in his reports related to the search warrant, such as when he walked down the steps, or if he documented the kind of dog Chandhok owned.
“If you wrote every single thing that you did, would it be longer than ‘War and Peace’?” Malinsky asked.
“Yes, significantly,” Holt responded.
The investigator said that they ultimately decided to serve Chandhok with a search warrant because “his devices contained evidence of Mr. Becker’s perjury, which is a felony.”
A few months prior to the search of Chandhok’s home, the former 49ers exec was called to testify to the civil grand jury as they investigated the source of the leak. Chandhok invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, Montoya revealed in court.
A few weeks later on Dec. 14, Chandhok conducted an internet search asking whether he had to testify if he had immunity. The next day, he received an immunity agreement.
“It was clear Mr. Chandhok was trying to protect Mr. Becker and the 49ers,” Holt said. “And at that point I think he was compelled to testify against his wishes.”