Private chef testifies at Marylander Stefon Diggs’s assault trial

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DEDHAM — The trial is underway on Monday, May 4, for former New England Patriots wide receiver and native Marylander Stefon Diggs.

Diggs, an alumnus of the University of Maryland, College Park, and Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Montgomery County, arrived at Dedham District Court Monday, shortly before 8:50 a.m. wearing a navy suit. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Friday, Feb. 13, to charges alleging he assaulted a private chef over a paycheck dispute at his Dedham residence in December, according to court records.

Prosecutors said they plan to call two witnesses, the chef and a police officer. The defense said it will call people who were inside the house at the time of the alleged assault. The case is expected to last two to three days, according the judge ahead of the jury selection process.

In March, the Patriots released Diggs. Diggs was scheduled to count $26.5 million against the Patriots’ 2026 salary cap. Releasing him saves the team $16.8 million in cap space, though it will pay $9.7 million in dead money.

Diggs wrote: “THANK YOU for a hell of a year,” in an Instagram story. “We family forever.”

At about 2 p.m. Monday court was back in session and Diggs’ former private Jamila “Mila” Adams resumed her testimony.

She said she was not invited on a trip to Miami to attend the art fair Art Basel. “Me and his girlfriend Cardi B had outfits planned,” Adams said, saying she was upset at Diggs not about not being invited but because he waited until the last minute to tell her she wasn’t invited.

Adams testified that during the alleged assault, Diggs came into her room and smacked her with an open hand on the cheek. Adams became emotional on the stand and asked for a moment when prosecutors asked her what happened during the alleged assault.

“It was like he tackled me,” Adams said.

She said she was so scared she urinated in her pants. She took a flight to New York City that evening, Dec. 2, and stayed for a week. She returned to work for Diggs after that. Her last day on the job and in the house was Dec. 15, she said.

Adams took the stand at around 12:40 p.m. Monday. Adams said she has been working as a private chef for over a decade She’s worked for professional athletes, singers, basketball players, baseball players and wealthy families.

“I’ve known Stefon Diggs for over four and a half years,” Adams said in a quiet voice.

Adams said their relationship is complicated. “It started out as friends and then became sexual and we would meet up and hang out and we decided February 2025 I would start working for him,” Adams said.

She was already living with him when she was hired as his personal chef, she said. Her duties were to make all his meals and snacks, as well as improve his diet. “I wanted him to get healthy and eat better,” she said.

Adams said the conflict began in November 2025, when an online social media message got back to Diggs that was claiming Adams was “telling his personal business about women he was sleeping with.” Adams said she got into an argument with another staff member who Diggs was maintaining a sexual online relationship with.

At 12:54 p.m. Monday, Judge Jeanmarie Carrolle released the jury for a lunch break and reminded them not to talk about the case.

Diggs’ defense attorney Andrew Kettlewell told the jury: “Three words. It didn’t happen.”

Kettlewell said Diggs’ mother was in the courtroom.

According to Kettlewell, before the private chef worked for Diggs, they were friends for years. He called them former “friends with benefits.”

Kettlewell said the chef was upset she was not invited on his trip to Miami, which Diggs was leaving for the night of the alleged altercation.

She made $2,000 a week for being a private chef, he said.

In open statements, the prosecutor said the private chef who is the alleged victim will take the stand to testify about the alleged assault on Dec. 2, 2025. The prosecutor also said a Dedham police officer will also be testifying.

“Right now, your job is to give every bit of evidence the attention and scrutiny it deserves,” the prosecutor said.

The seven jurors entered the courtroom at around 12:10 p.m. Monday. The jury is made up of six women and one man.

A court bailiff has confirmed at around 11:40 a.m. Monday that a jury of seven has been selected. Around 40 individuals just walked out of the jury room.

Diggs, 32, is charged with felony charge of strangulation or suffocation, along with misdemeanor assault and battery and was released on personal recognizance.

The charges stem from a report his former personal chef made with police alleging that on Dec. 2, Diggs hit her and choked her using the crook of his elbow when she brought up a missed paycheck that she said he owed her, according to the police report.

This was Diggs’ first court appearance since the charges were filed against him.

His arraignment in February lasted less than five minutes and no additional information about the allegations was discussed. Diggs’ left immediately after and did not comment on the case.

After the arraignment, which took only minutes, Diggs’ attorney Mitchell Schuster, stopped to briefly address the media, claiming the facts and evidence would “paint a very different picture” of the allegations but he did not specify what information he was referring to.

“He is completely innocent of these false allegations,” Schuster said on the steps outside the courthouse. “We are confident that when all the facts and evidence are reviewed, he will be fully exonerated,” he said. “I’d be shocked if this case goes to trial.”

Diggs has denied the charges. “They are unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, and were never investigated — because they did not occur,” Diggs’ lawyer David E. Meier said in a statement. “The timing and motivation for making the allegations is crystal clear: they are the direct result of an employee-employer financial dispute that was not resolved to the employee’s satisfaction. Stefon looks forward to establishing the truth in a court of law.”

Diggs was summons to court for the arraignment. Police did not arrest him in connection with these charges and he has not spent time in jail.

The victim, who had been working for Diggs as a private chef, walked into the Dedham police station on Dec. 16, and although at first hesitant to reveal Diggs’ identity, told police that Diggs became physically violent during an altercation over one month’s pay that she said he owed her, according to the police report included in court records.

She told police he “smacked her across the face” and “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” the report said. He then allegedly threw her on the bed and said something to the effect of “thought so.”

The chef, who had been hired July 20 and was supposed to work through the end of the NFL season, reportedly left her position after the incident.

Could Diggs go to jail?

Diggs’ attorney Michael DiStefano also revealed that Diggs and the alleged victim are currently in discussion to resolve the dispute with a financial offer, during a hearing on Dec. 30, 2025.

If Diggs’ financial offer to the alleged victim is not accepted, there is a chance the Patriot player would face jail time if found guilty of the charges, both misdemeanor and felony, depending on how the case plays out in court.

In Massachusetts, a misdemeanor sentence can include probation or incarceration in the house of correction, while a felony sentence can be punished by a state prison sentence up to and including life in prison, according to Serpa Law Office.

Diggs’s time with the Patriots

Diggs has been in the NFL for 11 years, but was only with the Patriots for one season. He has played for the Houston Texans, the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings.

This year, he ran for 1,013 years and had 85 receptions and scored four touchdowns.

“Oh (expletive). Unless they opt out of the contract,” Diggs told reporters on Feb. 8. “I anticipate being here, so I hope so. Love my guys. I had a hell of a year playing with them. Built some real family-like bond, so I hope so, I don’t control it though.”

What the New England Patriots and NFL have said

On a Dec. 30 statement was released by the Patriots: “The New England Patriots are aware of the accusations that have been made regarding Stefon Diggs. Stefon has informed the organization that he categorically denies the allegations. We support Stefon,” the statement reads. “We will continue to gather information and will cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities and the NFL as necessary.”

The NFL has said that it’s aware of the situation. “We are aware of the matter and have been in contact with the club,” the league said in a statement. “We have no further comment at this time.”

Is Diggs dating Cardi B?

In November 2025, Diggs welcomed a baby boy with rapper Cardi B.

“Congratulations @iamcardib & @stefondiggs on welcoming the newest @patriots fan into the world,” the NFL wrote on Instagram after the birth announcement.

Shortly after the Super Bowl ended on Sunday, Feb. 8, rumors starting swirling online that the couple broke up, with fans noticing that the couple unfollowed each other on Instagram and that she was not in the stands for the second half of the Super Bowl.

Who is Schuster?

Mitchell Schuster is a partner with the law firm of Meister Seelig & Fein, which as offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California. His practice areas are crisis management, commercial litigation and taxation and estates.

Schuster has been Diggs’ attorney for several years, he said outside Dedham District Court after Diggs’ arraignment on Friday, Feb. 13.

Reporting by Amelia Stern, The Enterprise / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.