LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court docket has overturned the rape conviction of former San Francisco 49er Dana Stubblefield after figuring out prosecutors made racially discriminatory statements in the course of the Black man’s trial.
The retired soccer participant was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in October 2020 after being convicted of raping a developmentally disabled lady in 2015 who prosecutors mentioned he lured to his house with the promise of a babysitting job.
The Sixth Court of Appeals discovered Wednesday 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 in search of a felony conviction or imposing a sentence on the basis of race.
Prior to the regulation, defendants who needed to problem their convictions on the premise of racial bias needed to show there was “purposeful discrimination,” a troublesome authorized commonplace to fulfill.
The appeals court docket mentioned prosecutors used “racially discriminatory language” that required them to overturn Stubblefield’s conviction.
The case was “contaminated with large error from the minute we began the trial,” mentioned Stubblefield’s lead lawyer, Kenneth Rosenfeld.
In April 2015, Stubblefield contacted the then-31-year-old lady on a babysitting web site and organized an interview, prosecutors mentioned.
According to a report by the Morgan Hill Police Department, the interview lasted about 20 minutes. She later acquired a textual content from Stubblefield saying he needed to pay her for her time that day, and he or she went again to the home.
The lady reported to the police that Stubblefield raped her at gunpoint, then gave her $80 and let her go. DNA proof matched that of Stubblefield, the report mentioned.
During the trial, prosecutors mentioned police by no means searched Stubblefield’s home and by no means launched a gun into proof, saying it was as a result of he was well-known Black man and it might “open up a storm of controversy,” based on the appellate choice.
By saying Stubblefield’s race was a think about regulation enforcement’s choice to not search his home, prosecutors implied the home would’ve been searched and a gun discovered had Stubblefield not been Black, the appeals court docket mentioned. The reference to controversy additionally hyperlinks Stubblefield to the occasions after the latest killing of Floyd primarily based on his race.
Defense attorneys mentioned there was no rape, and Stubblefield mentioned the girl consented to intercourse in change for cash.
“The trial had a biased decide who didn’t permit the proof from the protection, the truth that she was a intercourse employee, to be heard in entrance of a jury,” Rosenfeld mentioned. He known as the incident a “transactional event” between Stubblefield and the girl.
He stays in custody till a listening to subsequent week, throughout which his attorneys will ask a decide to approve a movement to launch him. Prosecutors have a number of choices, together with asking the court docket to remain their choice to allow them to enchantment to the state’s Supreme Court, or refile prices.
The Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office mentioned it was “finding out the opinion.”
Stubblefield started his 11-year lineman profession within the NFL with the 49ers in 1993 because the league’s defensive rookie of the 12 months. He later gained the NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1997 earlier than leaving the staff to play for Washington. He returned to the Bay Area to complete his profession, taking part in with the 49ers in 2000-01 and the Raiders in 2003.
