SAN JOSE, Calif. — Former San Francisco 49er Dana Stubblefield, whose 2020 rape conviction was vacated late last year, will remain in California state prison for now after a judge declined to make a bail ruling Friday.
Santa Clara County’s Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon said he couldn’t grant bail or release the former football star because the case remains under the jurisdiction of an appeals court, The Mercury News reported.
The Sixth District Court of Appeal vacated Stubblefield’s conviction in December 2024 and overturned his sentence of 15 years to life in prison after finding that racial bias had tainted the Black man’s trial. But the appellate court’s remittitur, a technical ruling that returns jurisdiction to the lower court, is not expected to be issued until next month, the news outlet reported.
Stubblefield’s attorneys have sought his release, asserting there are no longer grounds to keep him incarcerated.
In a motion filed to Ramon earlier this week, the attorneys said the judge had the authority to transfer the ex-NFL player from California State Prison, Corcoran — where he has served close to four years of a 15-year sentence — to county jail, and then grant his release on bail. That would effectively return Stubblefield to the same status that he had pretrial, which they argue is his current legal standing, the news outlet reported.
In court Friday, Ramon maintained jurisdiction isn’t returned to the local court until the Court of Appeal issues the remittitur. Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerney’s office has stated it supports Stubblefield remaining in custody, according to The Mercury News.
Outside the courthouse, Stubblefield’s attorneys opposed the decision.
“As he sits here, everything has been vacated, he has been convicted of nothing, and a legally innocent man is sitting in prison because we’re waiting on a time clock,” attorney Ken Rosenfeld said.
The retired football player was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in October 2020 after being convicted of raping a developmentally disabled woman whom prosecutors said he lured to his home in 2015 with the promise of a babysitting job. Defense attorneys said no rape occurred, and Stubblefield said the woman consented to sex in exchange for money.
In December 2024, the Sixth Court of Appeal found that prosecutors violated the California Racial Justice Act of 2020, a law passed during a summer of protest over the police killing of George Floyd. The measure bars prosecutors from seeking a criminal conviction or imposing a sentence on the basis of race.
The appeals court said prosecutors used “racially discriminatory language” that required them to overturn Stubblefield’s conviction.
Stubblefield began his 11-year lineman career in the NFL with the 49ers in 1993 as the league’s defensive rookie of the year. He later won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1997 before leaving the team to play for Washington. He returned to the Bay Area to finish his career, playing with the 49ers in 2000-01 and the Raiders in 2003.