DEDHAM, Mass. (Court TV) — After less than 90 minutes of deliberations, a Massachusetts jury found an NFL star not guilty of an attack on his personal chef.
Stefon Diggs appears in court on May 5, 2026. (Court TV)
Stefon Diggs, 33, was acquitted of felony charges of strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery following a trial that spanned two days.
Diggs was initially charged in December 2025 after his personal chef, Jamila Adams, said that a dispute turned physical inside his home. Diggs had denied all of the charges and accused Adams of fabricating the incident for financial gain.
Adams had a difficult time during her testimony on the stand, struggling to answer questions posed by Diggs’ defense about messages on her phone that were deleted and her behavior after the alleged attack. Adams admitted that she gave her boss a birthday gift less than 24 hours after the alleged incident.
Adams and Diggs had allegedly been arguing over money when he came into her room, smacked her and put her in a chokehold. Adams admitted she never sought any medical attention after the incident.
Diggs’ defense presented multiple witnesses who work for the former Patriots wide receiver and denied seeing any altercation between him and Adams. Diggs’ chief of staff said that on the day in question, she saw Adams, who had no injuries and did not appear upset.
While prosecutors tried to argue that Diggs and Adams had a complicated relationship, the defendant’s attorneys insisted that the alleged victim was looking for money and lying to police. To that end, they pressed Adams on cross-examination about allegedly demanding first $19,000 and then $5.5 million from Diggs. A frustrated Adams tried to tell the jury that Diggs had offered her $100,000 to recant her story; the judge scolded her and instructed the jury to disregard her comment.
“We have taken these allegations seriously from day one and that’s exactly why we were eager for the facts to come to light through the legal process,” Digg’s attorney, Mitch Schuster, said in a statement to Court TV after the verdict. “Professional athletes have a target on their back. When someone sees a uniform and a contract, they see leverage; they see a settlement. And they’re counting on that pressure in the court of public opinion to drive a default decision to settle regardless of the facts of the matter. 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.”
Diggs, who last played for the Patriots after signing a $69 million deal, was released by the team following their loss in Super Bowl LX. He remains a free agent. He had six consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons while playing for the Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills from 2018 to 2023.
