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Stefon Diggs was found not guilty of assaulting his private chef following a trial that lasted two days. The charges stemmed from a pay dispute involving an alleged incident at his home in December.
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Former Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs was found not guilty on Tuesday of assaulting his private chef in a pay dispute.
The four-time Pro Bowl wideout pleaded not guilty in February to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from the alleged dispute.
The trial lasted only two days.
The case centered on a Dec. 2 encounter at Diggsâ home in Dedham, where Jamila Adams, a former live-in personal chef who is known as Mila, testified he slapped and choked her during an argument.
Diggsâ attorneys said the alleged assault never happened and questioned Adamsâ credibility and whether the dispute was about money, relationship tensions â including a disagreement over a planned trip to Miami â or an alleged assault.
They pointed to financial demands she made and testimony from friends and employees who said she did not appear injured in the days after the encounter, while prosecutors argued the case rests on her account of what happened inside the home.
Defense attorney Andrew Kettlewell told jurors during closing arguments that prosecutors had not presented âa single shred of credible evidenceâ that an assault occurred.
Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue urged jurors to weigh Adamsâ testimony carefully and not to disregard it because she was not âa perfect witness.â
âShe was argumentative, avoidant, difficult. But does that mean you should throw away everything she said? No,â he said, adding that jurors should give her testimony âthe attention, the scrutiny, the weight it deserves.â
Earlier in the trial, Adams became emotional on the stand while describing an alleged encounter with Diggs on in which she said he entered her room following an argument over text.
Adams, who said she lived in the NFL starâs home and prepared all of his meals, testified that Diggs âsmacked me with an open handâ before wrapping his arm around her neck and choking her, leaving her struggling to breathe. She described what she called a âcomplicatedâ relationship, saying it had previously been sexual but was not at the time of the alleged assault.
Adams said she met Diggs in 2022 on Instagram and that the two became friends â at times âfriends with benefits,â as one of his attorneys described it â before she was later hired to live in his home and prepare his meals during the football season.
Defense attorneys pressed Adams about money she said she was owed after working as a live-in chef. She testified she was paid about $2,000 a week and believed she had not been fully compensated after being sent home. They pointed to a $19,000 demand and said the amount increased over time, with her attorney later seeking $5.5 million.
Stefon Diggs faced a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge.
Stefon Diggs was found not guilty of all charges related to the alleged assault.
Jamila Adams, a former personal chef known as Mila, testified against him.
The alleged incident took place on December 2 at Diggs' home in Dedham.
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When asked about the $5.5 million claim, Adams said, âI canât speak on that,â and at other points told jurors, âI donât understand the questionâ and âI donât know how to answer the question.â
At one point, Adams said Diggs had offered her $100,000 to recant her statement to the police, but that remark was struck from the record after the judge called the attorneys to a sidebar.
At times during her second day on the stand, Adams was instructed by the judge to answer questions directly and not include additional details beyond what was asked. Portions of her responses were struck from the record as nonresponsive, with jurors told to disregard them.
âThis is not an opportunity for you to interject your own narrative and evade answering questions,â Judge Jeanmarie Carroll told her at one point, warning that continued nonresponsive answers could result in her testimony being stricken.
Kenneth Ellis, the Dedham police officer who took Adamsâ initial report, testified that she arrived at the station visibly upset, telling jurors she âsat down on the bench and she was crying.â He said Adams initially asked to speak with a female officer before later agreeing to give a statement and identifying Diggs as the person involved.
Under cross-examination, Ellis said he did not observe visible injuries, collect photographs or speak with other witnesses, and that his investigation relied largely on Adamsâ account and text messages she provided.
Defense attorneys also sought to challenge Adamsâ account through testimony from people in Diggsâ orbit and evidence they said reflected her demeanor in the days after the alleged incident.
His chief of staff, massage therapist, a nurse who provided IV treatments and his hairstylist all testified that they saw her around the time of the attack and that she said nothing about being assaulted.
His hairstylist, Xia Charles, testified that she spent time with Adams in New York in the days after the alleged incident and did not notice any injuries. She said Adams appeared normal and that she did not see marks on her neck or elsewhere.
Defense attorneys also showed jurors cellphone videos of Adams socializing, including clips of her in a car listening to music and dancing, which they suggested showed her demeanor in the days following the incident.
Jeanelle Sales, Diggsâ chief of staff, who also goes by âSunni,â testified she saw Adams at the home on the day she alleged she was assaulted and did not see visible marks, redness or swelling on her neck or face. She said Adams appeared to be in normal spirits.
âShe was walking around looking for a piece of paper and a pen to write a card â I guess, write a note to him for his birthday gift,â Sales said.
Prosecutors pushed back on that testimony, suggesting the witnessesâ livelihoods were tied to Diggs and that they had a financial interest in the outcome of the case.
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