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Dana Stubblefield was found guilty of rape back in 2020. The former\u00a0San Francisco 49ers<\/a>\u00a0defensive lineman was convicted of forcible rape of a developmentally disabled woman while using a gun.<\/p>\n The retired football player was sentenced to 15 years to life.<\/p>\n Things have changed for him drastically since that ruling.<\/p>\n A California appeals court has overturned the rape conviction of Dana Stubblefield after deciding that prosecutors made racially discriminatory statements during the trial.<\/p>\n The Sixth Court of Appeals found this week that prosecutors violated the California Racial Justice Act of 2020, a law that just so happened to be enacted during a summer of protest over the police killing of George Floyd.<\/p>\n The appeals court said prosecutors used \u201cracially discriminatory language\u201d that required them to overturn Stubblefield\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n Dana Stubblefield was alleged to have used rape by force using a firearm, oral copulation by force, and false imprisonment after prosecutors said he had lured an intellectually disabled woman to his home in April 2015 with the promise of a babysitting job.<\/p>\n In closing arguments of the trial, a prosecutor stated officers did not search his house after the woman reported the incident, based partly on the fact that he was a famous Black man and doing so would have caused \u201ca storm of controversy,\u201d\u00a0according to a court filing.<\/a><\/p>\n Dana Stubblefield, the\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u2019s Defensive Rookie of the Year, and later, in 1997, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round (26th overall) of the 1993\u00a0NFL Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n His first year saw him rack up 10.5 sacks.<\/p>\n In 1997, he recorded 15 sacks and was named 1997\u2019s NFL Defensive Player of the Year by The Associated Press.<\/p>\nBackground on Dana Stubblefield Before His Legal Issues<\/h2>\n