A choose has granted the discharge of former San Francisco 49er Dana Stubblefield after his 2020 rape conviction was vacated by a California appeals courtroom final December.
The Sixth Courtroom of Appeals overturned the conviction of the Stubblefield, who’s Black, after figuring out that prosecutors had made racially discriminatory statements throughout his trial. Nonetheless, Stubblefield remained in jail as a result of a decrease courtroom choose mentioned he did not have the jurisdiction to grant bail or launch.
After the state legal professional common’s workplace and the appeals courtroom weighed in, Santa Clara Superior Courtroom Choose Hector Ramon granted Stubblefield’s launch Friday from the state jail the place he has served near 4 years of a 15-year sentence.
Tremendous Bowl returning to the Bay Space for 2026
“Finally, an innocent man is no longer sitting in a cage away from his family,” mentioned Stubblefield’s protection legal professional Kenneth Rosenfeld in an announcement.
Stubblefield was sentenced to fifteen years to life in jail in October 2020 after being convicted of raping a lady in 2015 who prosecutors mentioned he lured to his house with the promise of a babysitting job. Protection attorneys argued that no rape occurred, and Stubblefield mentioned the girl consented to intercourse in trade for cash.
Deputy District Lawyer Tim McInerny objected to Stubblefield’s launch at Friday’s listening to and mentioned his workplace plans to re-file expenses, The Mercury Information reported.
“A jury unanimously found Mr. Stubblefield guilty of raping a woman at gunpoint, he was given an appropriate sentence, and we felt that justice had been served,” Assistant District Attorney Terry Harman said in a statement. “That justice has been interrupted and although we are disappointed that the judge released Mr. Stubblefield from custody while we await a decision from the California Supreme Court, we remain focused on the sexual assault that occurred, the victim, and the need for accountability and community safety.”
The Sixth Courtroom of Appeals discovered that prosecutors violated the California Racial Justice Act of 2020, a regulation handed throughout a summer time of protest over the police killing of George Floyd. The measure bars prosecutors from searching for a prison conviction or imposing a sentence on the idea of race.
The appeals courtroom mentioned prosecutors used “racially discriminatory language” that required them to overturn Stubblefield’s conviction.
“The entire trial was infected with error and bias from the start,” Rosenfeld said. “This was a consensual, transactional encounter, and (Stubblefield) lost years of his life due to a flagrantly biased trial that blocked critical evidence and allowed prejudice and racial bias into the courtroom.”
Rosenfeld mentioned prosecutors used “prejudicial racial tropes” and known as Stubblefield a “large Black man” in entrance of the jury throughout his trial.
The phrases of his supervised launch embrace sporting an ankle monitor, not possessing firearms, and being barred from contacting the reported rape sufferer.
Stubblefield started his 11-year lineman profession within the NFL with the 49ers in 1993 because the league’s defensive rookie of the yr. He later received the NFL Defensive Participant of the Yr honors in 1997 earlier than leaving the staff to play for Washington. He returned to the Bay Space to complete his profession, taking part in with the 49ers in 2000-01 and the Raiders in 2003.
