Super Bowl Winner Convicted of 'Unconscionable' Crime'

Dana Stubblefield faces 15 years to life for raping disabled babysitter
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 28, 2020 9:10 AM CDT
Super Bowl Winner Convicted of Raping Disabled Babysitter
In this May 3, 2016, file photo, former San Francisco 49ers player Dana Stubblefield, right, sits at a news conference with one his attorneys in San Jose, Calif.   (Dan Honda/San Jose Mercury News via AP, File)

A former Super Bowl winner and NFL defensive rookie of the year has been found guilty of raping a developmentally disabled woman following a nine-month trial. A jury in Santa Clara County convicted former San Francisco 49ers star Dana Stubblefield of rape by force, oral copulation by force, false imprisonment, and using a firearm in commission of the crime on Monday. He was acquitted of rape and oral copulation of a person incapable of giving consent. Prosecutors said the three-time Pro Bowler contacted a 31-year-old woman on a babysitting website, then invited her to his home in Morgan Hill, Calif., for a 20-minute interview in April 2015, per the San Francisco Chronicle. The woman said she returned to the home after Stubblefield texted her, saying he wanted to pay her for her time. The woman said Stubblefield then raped her while using a gun.

Investigators said Stubblefield eventually gave the woman $80 and let her leave. She immediately went to police, who found DNA evidence implicating Stubblefield. Defense attorneys argued the woman consented to a paid encounter for sex and said they'd been blocked from presenting evidence in support of that argument. "We will clear [Stubblefield's] name, and we look forward to fighting this out in the courts," Allen Sawyer said, per ESPN. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, however, said the conviction was a "triumph of resilience" following "an unconscionable and violent crime" against a woman who "has struggled her whole life with learning disabilities and challenges to be self-sufficient," per CNN. Stubblefield, who retired ahead of the 2004 season, was jailed without bail pending sentencing, when he faces 15 years to life. (More Dana Stubblefield stories.)

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