{"id":883844,"date":"2026-05-06T08:48:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T08:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/883844\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T08:48:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T08:48:42","slug":"former-patriots-receiver-stefon-diggs-is-found-not-guilty-of-assaulting-his-private-chef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/883844\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs is found not guilty of assaulting his private chef"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Former New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs was found not guilty Tuesday of assaulting his personal chef<\/a> in a case marked by conflicting accounts of what happened inside his home after disputes over money and their relationship.<\/p>\n

His trial lasted two days and the jury deliberated for less than two hours.<\/p>\n

The charges stemmed from a Dec. 2 incident at his house in Dedham, where Jamila Adams, a former live-in personal chef known as Mila, testified that Diggs slapped and choked her during an argument. He had pleaded not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge.<\/p>\n

Diggs\u2019 attorneys said the alleged assault never happened and challenged Adams\u2019 credibility, arguing the dispute was about money or relationship tensions \u2014 including a disagreement over a planned trip to Miami \u2014 rather than a violent attack.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Defense attorney Andrew Kettlewell told jurors during closing arguments that prosecutors had not presented \u201ca single shred of credible evidence\u201d that an assault occurred. He said Adams made the accusation to \u201cleverage and humiliate and to punish\u201d Diggs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no assault, no strangulation, no incident at all on that day or any other day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue said Adams\u2019 behavior should be viewed in the context of her relationship with Diggs, whom he described as \u201ca sometimes lover, a boss, landlord,\u201d pointing to the imbalance in that relationship as a factor in how she responded afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was an athlete, a celebrity, financially powerful, surrounded by people that were all on his payroll that liked him,\u201d Virtue said. \u201cAnd when you put that all in consideration, her behavior does make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged jurors not to dismiss Adams\u2019 testimony because she was not \u201ca perfect witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was argumentative, avoidant, difficult. But does that mean you should throw away everything she said? No,\u201d he said, adding that jurors should give her testimony \u201cthe attention, the scrutiny, the weight it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Witness<\/p>\n

Witness Jamila Adams, right, walks past former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs during Diggs\u2019 trial at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa, Pool)<\/p>\n

Witness Jamila Adams, right, walks past former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs during Diggs\u2019 trial at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa, Pool)<\/p>\n

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Money vs. motive<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Adams, who said she lived in the NFL star\u2019s home and prepared all of his meals, testified that Diggs \u201csmacked me with an open hand\u201d before wrapping his arm around her neck and choking her, leaving her struggling to breathe. She described what she called a \u201ccomplicated\u201d relationship, saying it had previously been sexual but was not at the time of the alleged assault. <\/p>\n

Adams said she met Diggs in 2022 on Instagram and that the two became friends \u2014 at times \u201cfriends with benefits,\u201d as one of his attorneys described it \u2014 before she was later hired to live in his home and prepare his meals during the football season.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

When asked about the $5.5 million claim, Adams said, \u201cI can\u2019t speak on that,\u201d and at other points told jurors, \u201cI don\u2019t understand the question\u201d and \u201cI don\u2019t know how to answer the question.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an opportunity for you to interject your own narrative and evade answering questions,\u201d Judge Jeanmarie Carroll told her at one point, warning that continued nonresponsive answers could result in her testimony being stricken.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Witness<\/p>\n

Witness Jamila Adams testifies during the trial of former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa, Pool)<\/p>\n

Witness Jamila Adams testifies during the trial of former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa, Pool)<\/p>\n

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Witnesses describe accuser\u2019s appearance after alleged attack<\/p>\n

Kenneth Ellis, the Dedham police officer who took Adams\u2019 initial report, testified that she arrived at the station visibly upset, telling jurors she \u201csat down on the bench and she was crying.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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 Adams\u2019 account and text messages she provided.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys also sought to challenge Adams\u2019 account through testimony from people in Diggs\u2019 orbit and evidence they said reflected her demeanor in the days after the alleged incident.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Jeanelle Sales, Diggs\u2019 chief of staff, who also goes by \u201cSunni,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was walking around looking for a piece of paper and a pen to write a card \u2014 I guess, write a note to him for his birthday gift,\u201d Sales said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors pushed back on that testimony, suggesting the witnesses\u2019 livelihoods were tied to Diggs and that they had a financial interest in the outcome of the case. <\/p>\n

In a written statement after the verdict was read, Diggs\u2019 attorney Mitch Schuster said \u201cfame and financial success shouldn\u2019t strip someone of their presumption of innocence, but too often, it does exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessional athletes have a target on their back. When someone sees a uniform and a contract, they see leverage; they see a settlement,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re counting on that pressure in the court of public opinion to drive a default decision to settle\u2014 regardless of the facts of the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalist Michael Casey contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Former New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs was found not guilty Tuesday of assaulting his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[119302,5576,5559,9488,93567,119298,7,565,28347,119231,119299,119301,119296,119297,7502,119300,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,9,531,19047,573],"class_list":["post-883844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-andrew-kettlewell","tag-ap-top-news","tag-assault","tag-crime","tag-dedham","tag-drew-virtue","tag-football","tag-general-news","tag-indictments","tag-jamila-adams","tag-jeanelle-sales","tag-jeanmarie-carroll","tag-juries","tag-kenneth-ellis","tag-massachusetts","tag-mitch-schuster","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots","tag-sports","tag-stefon-diggs","tag-trials","tag-u-s-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116526771088073255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}