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Former 49er Dana Stubblefield will remain in prison for now after judge denies bail ruling

Former 49er Dana Stubblefield will remain in prison for now after judge denies bail ruling

Former San Francisco 49ers player Dana Stubblefield will remain in California state prison for now after a judge refused to rule on bail.

SAN JOSE – Former 49er Dana Stubblefield, whose 2020 rape conviction was overturned late last year, will remain in California State Prison for now after a judge declined to rule on bail on Friday.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon said he could not grant bail or release the former soccer star because the case remains under the jurisdiction of an appeals court. The Mercury News reported.

The Sixth District Court of Appeals overturned Stubblefield’s conviction in December 2024 and overturned his 15 years to life sentence after finding that racial bias had tainted the black man’s trial. But the appeals 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 lawyers have called for his release, saying there is no longer any reason to keep him incarcerated.

In a motion filed with Ramon earlier this week, attorneys said the judge had the authority to transfer the former NFL player from California State Prison, Corcoran, where he served about four years of a 15-year sentence, to the county jail. and then grant him bail. That would effectively return Stubblefield to the same status he had before the trial, which they say is his current legal situation, the news outlet reported.

In court on Friday, Ramón argued that jurisdiction does not return to the local court until the Court of Appeal issues the remittitur. Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerney’s office has stated that it supports Stubblefield remaining in custody, according to the Mercury News.

Outside court, Stubblefield’s lawyers objected to the decision.

“As he sits here, everything has been vacated, he has not been convicted of anything and a legally innocent man is in prison because we are waiting on a clock,” said attorney Ken Rosenfeld.

The retired footballer was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in October 2020 after being convicted of raping a woman whom prosecutors say he lured to his home in 2015 with the promise of a babysitting job. Defense attorneys said there was no rape and Stubblefield said the woman consented to sex in exchange for money.

In December 2024, the Sixth Court of Appeals found that prosecutors violated the California Racial Justice Act of 2020, a law passed during a summer of protests over the police killing of George Floyd. The measure prohibits prosecutors from seeking a criminal conviction or imposing a sentence on the race basis.

The appeals court said prosecutors used “racially discriminatory language” that required them to overturn Stubblefield’s conviction.

Stubblefield began his 11-year NFL lineman career with the 49ers in 1993 as the league’s defensive rookie of the year. He later earned NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1997 before leaving the team to play at Washington. He returned to the Bay Area to finish his career, playing with the 49ers in 2000-01 and the Raiders in 2003.