The Superior Court judge in Dana Stubblefield’s Morgan Hill rape case set the former San Francisco 49er’s bail at $500,000, after his attorneys argued his “very active” involvement in the community and modest financial means justified the release amount.
Stubblefield, 47, has been held at Santa Clara County Jail since the conclusion of a preliminary hearing Jan. 19, when prosecutors added a gun enhancement to five felony charges he faces in connection with the alleged rape of a woman at his Morgan Hill home in April 2015.
The gun enhancement could result in a prison sentence of 15 years to life if Stubblefield is convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerny had asked the court to set Stubblefield’s bail at $1 million.
Allen Sawyer, attorney for Stubblefield, asked Judge Jacqueline Duong to set bail at $500,000, adding that Stubblefield is willing to wear a GPS monitor, submit to random searches of his property and obey “any stay-away order” until the conclusion of the court proceedings.
After hearing these arguments, Duong agreed to set bail at $500,000 and impose the GPS and search conditions. She also is prohibiting Stubblefield from possessing any weapons.
Duong said she agreed to a bail amount appropriate for Stubblefield’s financial means due to “the defendant’s willingness to add non-monetary conditions to any consideration of bail,” among other factors.
“I did not find by clear and convincing evidence that (Stubblefield’s) release would result in great bodily harm,” Duong added. “The court determines that concerns for public and victim safety do not require pre-trial detention.”
Stubblefield’s attorneys filed a motion earlier this month in which they claimed they unearthed a short video on a pornography website of the alleged rape victim dancing nude, suggesting she lied during the preliminary hearing when she testified she had never been paid for sexual or nude acts. However, this evidence was not presented or even mentioned during Stubblefield’s Feb. 16 bail hearing at South County Courthouse.
Stubblefield’s attorneys and McInerny spent about an hour meeting with the judge behind closed doors before the bail hearing. When the attorneys and judge returned to the open courtroom for the public hearing, Stubblefield was led out of a holding cell by bailiffs. He was not handcuffed, but wore jail-issued attire.
The attorneys and judge did not specify what they discussed in private before the hearing. Duong said the private discussion attempted to “refocus (the defendant’s) framework for presenting information the court will consider” in Stubblefield’s bail request.
Sawyer said the former NFL player has “long ties to the community”—including four children (two who live with him) and a history of active support for the Special Olympics.
“This is his home,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer added that Stubblefield “voluntarily” turned over a firearm to the police during the rape investigation, and reliably attended previous court hearings when he was out on bail for nearly two years following his 2016 arrest.
Furthermore, due to Stubblefield’s financial situation, he has “limited ability to post bail” at an amount higher than $500,000, according to Sawyer. Stubblefield—who earned millions of dollars as a defensive end for the 49ers, Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders—now has assets of about $169,000, which are held in a retirement account. He is currently unemployed, Sawyer added.
Stubblefield previously posted 10 percent of $250,000 bail in the same case, shortly after Morgan Hill police arrested him in 2016, Sawyer said.
Stubblefield faces five felony charges in relation to the alleged rape in 2015: forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, rape and oral copulation of a person incapable of consent, and false imprisonment.
He was arrested by Morgan Hill Police in May 2016, after officers conducted a year-long investigation into the victim’s claim that Stubblefield raped her. The incident allegedly occurred April 9, 2015. The woman—whom investigators described as “intellectually disabled”—arrived at his home after Stubblefield contacted her through the website sittercity.com, according to police.
After a brief job interview, the woman left, according to authorities. But Stubblefield called her back and offered to pay for her time. When she returned, he carried the woman to a room, raped her, forced her to perform oral sex and then gave her $80, according to police reports.
The woman drove straight to the Morgan Hill police station from Stubblefield’s home to report the incident, according to authorities.
Stubblefield’s next hearing is scheduled for April 12 at the Morgan Hill Courthouse.
