Dana Stubblefield has been granted his launch from custody greater than 4 years after the previous NFL star and greater than six weeks after that conviction due to “racially discriminatory language” utilized by the prosecution in the course of the trial.
California Superior Court docket Choose Hector Ramon made the ruling Friday in Santa Clara, permitting Stubblefield his freedom, with out having to submit money bail, as the subsequent steps are decided. Stubblefield is required to put on an ankle monitor, can’t possess firearms and isn’t allowed to contact his accuser.
“He has easy circumstances which can be fairly widespread,” Allen Sawyer, who represented Stubblefield, together with fellow lawyer Kenneth Rosenfeld, informed The Occasions by telephone after the listening to. “He has to point out as much as courtroom dates if there are any future courtroom dates, which we don’t even know if there shall be. However as this finalizes and we march towards a retrial or the D.A.’s workplace involves their senses and doesn’t retrial Mr. Stubblefield, … he’s launched on his personal recognizance.”
Santa Clara County assistant district lawyer Terry Harman informed The Occasions in a press release following Friday’s listening to:
“A jury unanimously discovered Mr. Stubblefield responsible of raping a girl at gunpoint, he was given an applicable sentence, and we felt that justice had been served. That justice has been interrupted and though we’re upset that the decide launched Mr. Stubblefield from custody whereas we await a choice from the California Supreme Court docket, we stay centered on the sexual assault that occurred, the sufferer, and the necessity for accountability and group security.”
Stubblefield — a former defensive participant of the 12 months who spent his 11 NFL seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders — at gunpoint the earlier 12 months. Throughout his trial, Stubblefield’s protection argued that the intercourse was consensual.
In October 2020, Stubblefield was sentenced to fifteen years to life in jail after a jury discovered him responsible of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and false imprisonment, and that he had used a firearm in committing the primary two offenses.
The sixth District Court docket of Attraction reversed Stubblefield’s conviction late final 12 months primarily based on the , which prohibits judges, attorneys and aw enforcement officers, amongst others, from exhibiting “bias or animus in direction of the defendant due to the defendant’s race, ethnicity, or nationwide origin.”
The appellate courtroom’s resolution was primarily based on language used within the prosecution’s closing argument
After Friday’s listening to, Stubblefield needed to return to Corcoran State Jail to finish some paperwork. However Sawyer stated he expects Stubblefield to be again in Santa Clara by Friday night.
“We anticipate him to be house tonight,” Sawyer stated. “As my companion stated, he’ll be having a late dinner together with his children tonight.”
