Former 49ers star found guilty of rape
Jury also finds that he used a gun during the assault of the woman, whose mental capacity was part of trial
Former San Francisco 49ers star Dana Stubblefield was found guilty Monday of raping a prospective babysitter five years ago in his Morgan Hill home, capping a years-long courtroom saga in which attorneys sparred over the mental capacity of the victim and how that may have factored into the encounter.
A jury of eight men and four women rendered a verdict that Stubblefield raped and forced oral copulation on the woman — identified as Jane Doe at trial — on April 9, 2015. The jurors also found Stubblefield used a gun during the sexual assault, which significantly increases his potential sentence, which stands at a maximum of 15 years to life in prison.
However, the jury rejected two corresponding felony charges that Stubblefield exploited a woman who was mentally incapable of providing consent to sex, which was among the most egregious allegations made against him when the case was filed in 2016.
Lead prosecutor Tim McInerny argued from the beginning of the case that Doe was developmentally disabled and was overpowered and overwhelmed by the much larger Stubblefield, who used his physical stature and celebrity to perpetrate the assault.
“All of the power dynamic was clearly stacked in the defendant’s favor,” McInerny said outside the courthouse after the verdict. “It was in his home, it was on his turf, his rules. … He took advantage of her and clearly preyed upon her based
on her level of disability and the fact that he had her alone, and didn’t think she would be able to report, didn’t think she would be understood, and didn’t think she would be able to leave. The jury spoke otherwise.”
Stubblefield, 49, began his 11-career in the NFL with the 49ers in 1993 as the league’s defensive rookie of the year, and later won NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1997 before leaving the team to play for Washington. He returned to the Bay Area to finish his career, playing with the 49ers in 2000-01 and the Raiders in 2003.
After the verdict was read Monday, the former football player was consoled by his attorney and a handful of supporters in the courtroom, which was partitioned with installations of Plexiglas as part of the county’s efforts to prevent the potential spread of the coronavirus. He was then led away by court deputies.
Attorney Allen Sawyer, a defense attorney for Stubblefield, signaled he intends to appeal the verdict, and lamented that the trial had been fragmented as courts responded to the coronavirus pandemic. The trial was first halted by statewide shelter-in-place orders, and again disrupted when hearings were put off for a week after a COVID-19 exposure scare.
“We’re very disappointed in the verdict,” Sawyer said Monday. “We are going to continue to fight. Mr. Stubblefield is resilient and is a strong person who believes the system will work.”
The defense, both in court and in the public arena, was aggressive and at times pugilistic, making an early attempt to disqualify District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office from trying the case. Eventually, a gag order was issued to attorneys on both sides.
Rosen, who was on hand for the verdict, attributed the trial’s outcome in part to the victim’s resilience during five days of testimony and intense cross-examination, and to her determination to see the case through to the end. He also lauded the testimony of two other women who testified to being assaulted by Stubblefield, to help establish a pattern of behavior, but whose claims were not charged by Rosen’s office because of issues with the statute of limitations and with jurisdiction.
“We thank the victim for her courage and her resilience, and for coming forward and saying what happened to her, and saying ‘enough is enough,'” Rosen said.
Sawyer said the defense team had been hampered by the trial judge, who precluded them from making many references and introducing some testimony referring to the victim’s sexual history. Shield laws generally prevent such testimony from being presented at trial unless compelling evidence arises of an accuser’s dishonesty, inconsistency in memory or testimony, or bias.
Those obstacles, Sawyer said, hampered Stubblefield’s legal team from fully presenting their argument that the woman was not mentally disabled, as prosecutors claimed, and that the sex between her and the former football player was actually a case of paid sex. Also during trial, the defense team sought to show that Doe’s proficiency in using websites and social media stood in contradiction to the prosecution’s claims of her intellectual disability.
There was also a strong dispute between the sides over whether Stubblefield threatened Doe with a gun during the assault, an allegation that was clouded by the fact that no gun was recovered as evidence and Doe’s own uncertainty about whether it might have been a cell phone.
“Now it’s going to be in the hands of an appellate court,” Sawyer said.
Stubblefield’s next court hearing, when sentencing recommendations are expected to be presented, is scheduled for Aug. 28.