ESPN News ServicesMultiple AuthorsMay 5, 2026, 04:40 PM ET
BOSTON — Former New England 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 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.”
“She was argumentative, avoidant, difficult. But does that mean you should throw away everything she said? No,” Virtue said, adding that jurors should give her testimony “the attention, the scrutiny, the weight it deserves.”
Earlier in the trial, Adams became emotional on the stand while describing an alleged encounter with Diggs in which she said he entered her room following an argument over text.
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.
“This is not an opportunity for you to interject your own narrative and evade answering questions,” 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 Adams’ initial report, testified that she arrived at the station visibly upset, telling jurors she “sat down on the bench and she was crying.” 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 that he did not observe visible injuries, collect photographs or speak with other witnesses and that his investigation relied largely on Adams’ account and text messages she provided.
Defense attorneys also sought to challenge Adams’ account through testimony from people in Diggs’ orbit and evidence they said reflected her demeanor in the days after the alleged incident.
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 that Adams appeared normal and that she did not see marks on Adams’ neck or elsewhere.
Defense attorneys also showed jurors cell phone 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.
“She was walking around looking for a piece of paper and a pen to write a card — I guess, write a note to him for his birthday gift,” Sales said.
Prosecutors pushed back on that testimony, suggesting that the witnesses’ livelihoods were tied to Diggs and that they had a financial interest in the outcome of the case.
Diggs, who was released by the Patriots in March, signed a three-year, $69 million contract with New England last year and was a key target for quarterback Drake Maye during the Patriots’ AFC East title run. Before joining the Patriots, Diggs was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 2015 and played for the Buffalo Bills before a brief stint with the Houston Texans in 2024.
Diggs’ 1,000-yard season marked the seventh of his career. It helped complete a successful career revival after a season-ending knee injury derailed what turned out to be a one-year stay with the Texans in 2024.
“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,” Mitch Schuster of Meister, Seelig & Schuster said in a statement. “… 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.
Diggs’ attorneys 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, and defense attorney Andrew Kettlewell told jurors during closing arguments that prosecutors had not presented “a single shred of credible evidence” that an assault occurred.