SAN JOSE (AP) – Former San Francisco 49er Dana Stubblefield, whose 2020 rape conviction was vacated late last year, will remain in California state prison for now after a judge declined to make a bail ruling.
Santa Clara County’s Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon said he couldn’t grant bail or release the former football star because the case remains under the jurisdiction of an appeals court, The Mercury News reported.
The Sixth District Court of Appeal vacated Stubblefield’s conviction in December 2024 and overturned his sentence of 15 years to life in prison after finding that racial bias had tainted the Black man’s trial. But the appellate 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 attorneys have sought his release, asserting there are no longer grounds to keep him incarcerated.
In a motion filed to Ramon earlier this week, the attorneys said the judge had the authority to transfer the ex-NFL player from California State Prison, Corcoran – where he has served close to four years of a 15-year sentence – to county jail, and then grant his release on bail.
