Former San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield was released from prison by a Santa Clara County judge after his rape conviction was overturned late last year. Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon ordered Stubblefield’s release Friday, and he arrived home later that day, his attorney Kenneth Rosenfeld told the Chronicle. Stubblefield is required to wear an ankle monitor, can’t live in a house that has weapons and can’t contact his accuser, Rosenfeld said Saturday.

Stubblefield was sentenced in 2020 to 15 years to life after being convicted of raping a prospective babysitter five years earlier. But in December, a California appeals court overturned the conviction, ruling that prosecutors had violated a state law prohibiting the use of race, ethnicity or national origin in a conviction. A panel of judges from the 6th District Appellate Court found that prosecutors broke that law by mentioning Stubblefield’s race when they explained at trial why law enforcement didn’t search his house for a gun.

Rosenfeld, the lead defense attorney representing Stubblefield, hailed his client’s release as “the right call” by the judge. “He had a legally invalid trial,” Rosenfeld said Saturday. “The process … has been infected with error, bias and prejudice since the first day he was in court. This was the right result. It was the right result to restore this man to the position he was in before this started.”

Santa Clara County prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Chronicle on Saturday. But Assistant District Attorney Terry Harman told the Los Angeles Times that Stubblefield had been given “an appropriate sentence” after his conviction and “we felt that justice had been served.” “That justice has been interrupted and although we are disappointed that the judge released Mr. Stubblefield from custody while we await a decision from the California Supreme Court, we remain focused on the sexual assault that occurred, the victim, and the need for accountability and community safety,” Harman said, according to the Times.

Rosenfeld said “there’s a chance” prosecutors could refile charges, but the defense team plans to soon file a motion for dismissal that wouldn’t allow them to do so, pursuant to the Racial Justice Act – the same law on which the overturning of Stubblefield’s conviction was based. “I believe we have a very solid chance of winning that motion,” Rosenfeld said. Stubblefield played with the 49ers for seven of his 11 NFL seasons, beginning in 1993. He played with the Raiders for his final season in 2003. He was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1997.