Former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs was acquitted Tuesday of all charges stemming from an alleged assault on his personal chef at his Dedham, Massachusetts, home in December, capping a two-day trial that pitted the accuser’s account against a defense team that portrayed the accusation as a financially motivated fabrication.
A Norfolk County Superior Court jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a not guilty verdict on a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery. The charges arose from a Dec. 2 incident in which Jamila Adams, also known as Mila, told police that Diggs slapped her and wrapped his arm around her neck during an argument, leaving her struggling to breathe.
Diggs had pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys challenged Adams’s credibility at every turn. “There was no assault, no strangulation, no incident at all on that day or any other day,” defense attorney Andrew Kettlewell said during closing arguments, according to the Associated Press. He told jurors that prosecutors had not presented “a single shred of credible evidence” that an attack occurred and argued that Adams made the accusation to “leverage and humiliate and to punish” Diggs.
Prosecutors countered that Adams’s behavior — including what they acknowledged as combative and inconsistent testimony — should be understood in light of the unbalanced relationship between the two. “He was an athlete, a celebrity, financially powerful, surrounded by people that were all on his payroll that liked him,” Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue said. “And when you put that all in consideration, her behavior does make sense.”
Adams, who said she met Diggs on Instagram in 2022 and became friends — and, at times, “friends with benefits” — before being hired to live in his home and prepare his meals, testified that she had been paid about $2,000 per week but believed she was owed additional money. Defense attorneys questioned her about a $19,000 demand that later rose, through her lawyer, to a $5.5 million civil claim. Adams, at times, said she could not speak to the higher figure, and portions of her testimony were struck after the judge instructed her to answer questions directly and warned that continued nonresponsive answers could result in her entire testimony being stricken.
The defense also called multiple witnesses from Diggs’s household and circle — his chief of staff, a massage therapist, a nurse, and his hairstylist — who testified that they saw Adams in the days after the alleged incident and did not observe visible injuries or hear any mention of an assault. The hairstylist, Xia Charles, said she spent time with Adams in New York shortly after and saw no marks on her neck or elsewhere. Jurors were shown cellphone video of Adams socializing, including clips of her in a car listening to music and dancing.
Kenneth Ellis, the Dedham police officer who took Adams’s initial report, testified that she was visibly upset and crying when she arrived at the station. Under cross-examination, Ellis acknowledged that he saw no visible injuries and did not collect photographs, and that his investigation relied primarily on Adams’s account and text messages she provided.
After the verdict, Diggs’s attorney Mitch Schuster said in a statement that the case illustrated the presumption of innocence being undermined by celebrity. “Professional athletes have a target on their back. When someone sees a uniform and a contract, they see leverage; they see a settlement,” Schuster said.
Adams had also testified that Diggs offered her $100,000 to recant her statement to police, but that remark was struck from the record by the judge after a sidebar conference, and jurors were instructed to disregard it. Judge Jeanmarie Carroll at one pointed reprimand told Adams, “This is not an opportunity for you to interject your own narrative and evade answering questions.”
The trial, which drew on text messages, financial demands, and competing narratives about what occurred inside Diggs’s home, concluded with the jury’s verdict Tuesday afternoon.