Stefon Diggs learns fate in strangulation, assault case after two days of testimony

Diggs was accused of assaulting his former live-in chef.

A Massachusetts jury on Tuesday found NFL wide receiver Stefon Diggs not guilty of felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault in a case related to a pay dispute involving his former chef.

Diggs, who pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance in February, was accused of assaulting Jamila Adams, his former live-in chef at his Massachusetts home. Adams testified on Monday that Diggs slapped her and choked her during an argument last December.

The trial, which lasted only two days, saw the defense team for Diggs point to financial demands made by Adams and testimony from friends and employees that said she did not seem injured following the assault. At one point during the trial, Diggs’ defense team shared a video of Adams dancing on camera in the home shortly after the alleged assault took place.

“The evidence has shown what we’ve maintained from day one: Mr. Diggs was wrongly accused, and this case represents exactly the kind of opportunistic targeting that players can face the moment they step off the field,” Mitch Schuster of Meister, Seelig & Schuster said in a statement.

Diggs was visibly emotional after the verdict was read, wiping away tears while thanking his lawyers.

Prosecutors argued that Adams’ testimony was the crux of the case involving Diggs and that because she wasn’t a “perfect witness” didn’t mean that her testimony needed to be disregarded.

“She was argumentative, avoidant, difficult. But does that mean you should throw away everything she said? No,” Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue said, later urging jurors to give her testimony “the attention, the scrutiny, the weight it deserves.”

While on the stand, Adams admitted that her relationship with Diggs was “complicated” and that the two had previously had a sexual relationship but were not together at the time of the assault. She testified that Diggs entered the room, arguing over money Adams said she was owed, before he “smacked me with an open hand” and later choked her.

However, during several instances of her testimony, Adams’ words were stricken from the record, including an accusation that Diggs attempted to pay her $100,000 to recant her statement about the alleged assault. Another tense moment came when Diggs’ defense team asked about claims that her attorney sought a $5.5 million settlement from the NFL star. Adams said that she “can’t speak on that” and “how to answer the question.”

An officer involved with the case said he spoke with Adams once she reported the incident, but noticed no visible injuries and took no photographs for his investigation.

Those employed by Diggs, including his chief of staff and hairstylist, all testified that they saw Adams around the time of the alleged assault, and not once did she mention it.

Diggs spent this past season with the Patriots, helping lead the team to their first Super Bowl appearance since 2019. He was released from the team in March despite signing a 3-year, $69M contract last summer.

Had he been convicted, the former New England Patriot faced up to five years in state prison or two and a half years in a correctional facility.