SAN JOSE — Dana Stubblefield spoke publicly Wednesday for the first time since he was freed from prison, as his attorneys argued that the former San Francisco 49ers star should not be re-charged because of trial errors that led to his 2020 rape conviction being overturned late last year.
Stubblefield, 54, left Corcoran State Prison on Friday after a Santa Clara County judge ordered his release — with a GPS ankle monitor — pending an appeal of his conviction reversal to the California Supreme Court. The county district attorney’s office has signaled that it intends to re-file charges alleging that Stubblefield raped a prospective babysitter at his Morgan Hill home a decade ago.
Former San Francisco 49ers star Dana Stubblefield speaks during a press conference in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
But when that might happen is up in the air, hinging on the high court’s discretion on whether to review the case, and local prosecutors’ ultimate decision on whether to pursue a second trial. Stubblefield spoke in a downtown San Jose conference room voicing gratitude for the efforts to get him out of prison, where he was more than three years into a 15-years-to-life sentence.
“Throughout this tough ordeal, I always believed the truth will come out,” said Stubblefield, who read from prepared remarks and did not take questions under the advice of his attorneys. “There (were) long nights when I sat in my cell, an innocent man, wondering if things would ever be right, but I held on to hope. I want to thank my family and friends who stood by me during these hard times.”
Before and after his conviction in the summer of 2020, Stubblefield and his legal team have maintained that his sexual encounter with a woman identified in court only as Jane Doe was an instance of paid sex, not rape.
His trial attorneys, Kenneth Rosenfeld and Allen Sawyer, reiterated their criticism over evidence of Doe as a sex worker being excluded from trial. They also assert that subsequent interviews of Doe that backtracked a claim that Stubblefield threatened her with a gun during the alleged assault were also kept away from jurors.
“There’s a long road for the government to go to possibly get this case back in front of a jury. But again, we don’t think it’s fair that Mr. Stubblefield should have to sit through another jury trial because of an error on behalf of the government,” Sawyer said. “Why should we be burdened on anything? We didn’t commit these errors.”
Rosenfeld added that even if the state Supreme Court were to overrule the conviction reversal handed down by the Sixth District Court of Appeal, Stubblefield’s appellate petition outlines a dozen more court and prosecution errors they say prejudiced the trial. And if the high court declined to hear the appeal by the Attorney General’s office — on behalf of the local district attorney’s office — he argues that the proper inclusion of exonerating evidence would clear Stubblefield.
“If this does come down to that, then Dana wants his day to prove his innocence,” Rosenfeld said.
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Stubblefield’s conviction and sentence were vacated by the Sixth District Court of Appeal in a Dec. 26 ruling that determined the county district attorney’s office violated the state’s Racial Justice Act during closing trial arguments.
The appellate judges took particular issue with a prosecutor’s explanation for why police did not search Stubblefield’s home for a gun, which was claimed to have been used during the alleged 2015 rape of a prospective babysitter at his Morgan Hill home. Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerney referred to a “storm of controversy” that would have ensued from a police search of a famous Black man, and the judges decided it allowed jurors to “feel justified or even compelled by misguided notions of racial fairness to overlook or discount the absence of a gun” when determining Stubblefield’s guilt.
At the Friday court hearing that ended with an order to release Stubblefield, McInerney stood by the strength of the trial evidence and argued that the Sixth District ruling did not equate to an exoneration. The challenge to the conviction reversal argues that the Racial Justice Act finding was not strong enough to warrant vacating the conviction and sentence.
Stubblefield — who played for the 49ers from 1993 to 2001 as a tackle and was NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 — said he is now trying to make up for lost time.
“Being back with my family after four long years is incredible. The time away from my wife and kids was the hardest part,” he said Wednesday. “Now I really want to focus on what truly matters, watching my son play football, coaching him a little bit, and having dinner with my wife … We all take the time for granted, but I won’t.”
