After Conviction Thrown Out Due to Racial Bias, Friday 2/7/25 Hearing Set to Release Ex-49ers Stubblefield from Prison

Associated Press

07-02-2025

Defense Attorneys Rosenfeld & Sawyer, who have represented Stubblefield since 2015 and helped prove racial bias, will argue for Stubblefield's immediate release
'This was a consensual, transactional encounter, yet Mr. Stubblefield has unjustly lost years of his life due to a flagrantly biased judicial process.' — Allen Sawyer
SAN JOSE, CA, UNITED STATES, February 7, 2025 / EINPresswire.com / -- A hearing will take place on Friday, February 7th at 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time to consider a motion for release from custody for ex-San Francisco 49ers star Dana Stubblefield, whose conviction and 15-year sentence were recently overturned by the California Sixth Court of Appeals, citing racial bias in his trial. The hearing to release Mr. Stubblefield, an innocent man guilty of no crime with his conviction overturned, will take place at California Superior Court Department 23, located at 190-200 West Hedding Street, San Jose, CA. Mr. Stubblefield will be in attendance at Friday's hearing (Santa Clara County, Case No. F1660022).
Last month, the Superior Court declined to rule on Mr. Stubblefield's release, citing a belief that the Superior Court did not have jurisdiction to hold a bail hearing for Mr. Stubblefield, arguing that the case was still under the purview of the Sixth Court of Appeals.
Defense Attorneys Kenneth Rosenfeld and Allen Sawyer, who have represented Stubblefield since 2015 and helped prove racial bias and prejudice in this wrongful conviction, objected to the ruling in a petition to the Sixth Court of Appeals. On January 30th, the Court of Appeals ruled the Superior Court in fact has jurisdiction to hear a motion for release for Mr. Stubblefield. The California State Attorney General's Office also submitted an opinion noting the Superior Court had jurisdiction to hear the motion to release Mr. Stubblefield.
Rosenfeld and Sawyer helped prove Stubblefield's trial was infected with errors allowed by the judge from the beginning of proceedings, and on December 26, 2024, the Sixth Court of Appeals issued a definitive, unanimous ruling overturning the conviction.
On Friday, Rosenfeld and Sawyer will argue for his release after three years of imprisonment.
'He should be released right now. He is not guilty of any crime and has been sitting in a cell for three years based on a wrongful conviction that has now been thrown out by a forceful, unanimous ruling from the Court of Appeals,' said Rosenfeld.
Further, the judge in Stubblefield's case blocked the admission of key police evidence and the accuser's confession that she was a paid sex worker with her own website and business operation and separately admitted to charging clients the exact amount, to the dollar, she charged Mr. Stubblefield. This evidence was directly relevant to the case and the jury should have been able to review it, considering Mr. Stubblefield's testimony detailing the interaction was a paid, consensual transaction.
'There was extreme bias throughout this case, and the judge allowed all of it—from blocking evidence that showed the woman involved was a sex worker by trade with her own website; to Mr. Stubblefield being physically paraded in front of the jury in a concealed box like an animal, under the guise of COVID 'precautions'; to the use of prejudicial racial tropes in front of the jury,' said Rosenfeld. 'The judge allowed it all. I lost count of the number of times our client was called a 'large black man.''
'This was a consensual, transactional encounter, yet Mr. Stubblefield has unjustly lost years of his life due to a flagrantly biased judicial process,' said Sawyer. 'We earnestly hope Mr. Stubblefield is released on Friday and that the prosecution will take the necessary steps to rectify this injustice and drop the charges against Mr. Stubblefield.'
Further, the prosecution attempted to frame the accuser as developmentally disabled, which the judge allowed, in part via admission of an IQ test. The accuser's primary language is Spanish, and the IQ test was administered in English.
The jury in the trial rejected all claims of disability and dismissed those related charges.
About Kenneth Rosenfeld and Allen Sawyer
The Rosenfeld Law Firm and The Law Offices of Allen Sawyer are located in Sacramento, Stockton, and San Jose. As California criminal defense lawyers, Kenneth Rosenfeld and Allen Sawyer aggressively defend a wide range of cases, from first-degree murder to driving under the influence (DUI defense), with a specialty in defending sex offense cases and political corruption cases. As criminal law commentators, Rosenfeld and Sawyer have each made a number of appearances on television and radio, including national media. Their criminal defense law firms practice federal criminal defense and juvenile defense, as well as appellate law, prison law, and mental health law.
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