A California appellate court has overturned the rape conviction of former San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield, citing racial bias. The Santa Clara County Sixth District Court of Appeal ruled that the prosecution’s statements during the trial were “racially discriminatory” and violated the California Racial Justice Act of 2020.
In 2020, Stubblefield was convicted of rape by force using a firearm, oral copulation by force, and false imprisonment after a jury found him guilty of luring an intellectually disabled woman to his home with a promise of a babysitting job. During the trial, a prosecutor made comments suggesting that police had not searched Stubblefield’s home after the woman reported the incident because he was a “famous Black man” and a search would have caused a “storm of controversy.”
The appeals court ruled that the prosecution’s statements implied that Stubblefield gained an advantage at trial because of his race and referenced the events following George Floyd’s killing, which is a racialized perception. The court vacated Stubblefield’s conviction and prison sentence, finding them to be “legally invalid.”
Stubblefield’s lawyers had argued that he was innocent and that there was evidence excluded at trial that would have changed the prosecution’s narrative. Stubblefield was a first-round draft pick for the 49ers in 1993 and won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 1997.