Patriots’ $22.5M Super Bowl Star Stefon Diggs Faces Felony Trial

Three months ago, Stefon Diggs suited up for Super Bowl LX with the New England Patriots. The four-time Pro Bowl receiver had signed a three-year, $69 million deal with New England and became a key target for quarterback Drake Maye during the team’s AFC East title run. He was the guy New England trusted in the biggest moment of its season. This week, a six-person jury in Norfolk County District Court decided whether that same man strangled a woman in his Dedham home, and on May 5, 2026, found him not guilty.

The Woman in the House

Mila Adams started as a friend. She and Diggs connected before she moved into his Dedham, Massachusetts home as his live-in private chef, with court records describing an unpaid wage dispute over work she had done for him. Their history was tangled before the first meal was cooked. “It started out as friends and then became sexual,” Adams testified, adding that they later agreed she would begin working for him in February 2025. A woman who once shared his bed now depended on his paycheck and lived under his roof.

A Dispute Over Wages

Prosecutors say the explosion came over money. Adams told police Diggs owed her wages for a week in November, when he had houseguests and she had to go home. On December 2, 2025, according to her testimony, Diggs entered her unlocked bedroom, slapped her across the face with an open hand, then wrapped his elbow around her neck and choked her. She told police she felt short of breath and feared she could have blacked out. She first contacted police on December 16, 14 days later, and returned on December 22 to say she wanted to pursue charges. There were no hospital visits, no photographs, and no medical records documenting the alleged attack.

Two Words That Changed Everything

Defense attorney Andrew Kettlewell stood before the jury and said it plain. “The assault that the Commonwealth described in their opening statement never happened. It did not happen.” No hedging. No alternative theory. Complete denial. The defense pointed to no physical evidence, no medical documentation, no photographs, and no corroborating witnesses. Other residents lived in that house on December 2. According to the defense, nobody heard a thing. Nobody saw a thing.

The Locked-Room Problem

Think of it as a play with no camera and no referee. One person claims a violent choking attack. The other says nothing happened. The defense told jurors multiple household residents heard nothing unusual. Strangulation cases are among the hardest to prosecute without forensic evidence because internal asphyxiation doesn’t always leave visible marks. Prosecutors built their case largely around Adams’ testimony, supported by responding officers. The entire case rested on which human being the six jurors believed more.

What Felony Strangulation Actually Means in Massachusetts

Strangulation or suffocation became a stand-alone felony in Massachusetts in 2014. A first offense carries up to five years in state prison, with higher penalties when the victim is a household member or when the act causes serious injury. The statute was designed precisely for cases like this one, where choking often leaves no visible mark but signals a sharply elevated risk of future lethal violence. Prosecutors don’t need to prove injury. They need to prove the defendant knowingly interfered with normal breathing or circulation. That legal framing is why a case with no medical records could still go to trial as a felony.

Why Delayed Reports Aren’t Automatically Disqualifying

Jurors often assume a real victim reports immediately. Domestic-violence researchers and prosecutors argue the opposite. Delays of days or weeks are the norm, especially where the accuser depends on the accused for housing or income. That doesn’t prove Adams’ account, but it explains why a 14-day gap alone isn’t legally fatal for the prosecution. It also explains why the defense hit that gap so hard in opening arguments.

Two Witnesses Against a Full House

Prosecutors relied principally on Adams and the responding officer. The defense lined up household residents prepared to say they heard nothing the night of December 2. In a case with no video, no injuries, and no contemporaneous outcry, that witness imbalance tends to be decisive. Juries generally acquit when the state’s story requires them to disbelieve multiple disinterested observers.

The Money on the Table

Diggs’ 2026 compensation with New England was reported at approximately $22.5 million, including a base salary, roster bonuses, and incentives tied to his three-year, $69 million contract. But that financial architecture had already shifted before trial. The Patriots released Diggs in March 2026, making him an unrestricted free agent by the time jury selection began. The money still cut both ways in court. Adams had a documented wage dispute worth thousands. The defense argued that financial grievance became the engine for a fabricated accusation. Prosecutors argued it triggered real violence.

Why the Patriots Cut Him Anyway

New England’s release of Diggs in March 2026 was widely reported as a football and cap decision, not a legal one. Only a small portion of his 2026 salary was fully guaranteed, making the move relatively low cost for the team. The Patriots pocketed significant cap flexibility and signaled a pivot toward younger pass catchers around Drake Maye. The pending charges weren’t cited as the reason, but they certainly didn’t help his case to stay.

Nobody Wins This

A conviction would have meant potential prison time, career damage, and lasting reputational fallout. An acquittal, the outcome jurors ultimately delivered, still leaves the accusation attached to every future contract negotiation, endorsement pitch, and Google search. Adams faces parallel scrutiny. She will be branded either as a survivor who pursued justice or as a woman who fabricated assault charges against a celebrity. Any civil matters can proceed regardless of the criminal verdict. The Patriots absorb reputational noise no matter what six strangers decided this week.

The Civil Case Waiting in the Wings

Criminal acquittal doesn’t close the door on a civil suit. The burden in civil court is preponderance of the evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt, a materially lower bar that has flipped outcomes in past celebrity cases. Any unpaid wage claim Adams may press would also proceed on its own track, independent of the assault allegation. For Diggs, the courtroom chapter may not be over just because the criminal trial is.

The Pattern Nobody Mentions

Diggs carried a “diva” reputation long before this courtroom. He had high-profile exits from Minnesota and Buffalo following well documented friction, and a brief 2024 stop in Houston before signing with New England. The Patriots bet $69 million that the noise was behind him. Here is what this trial actually revealed. In private domestic spaces with no cameras, no witnesses, and tangled personal histories, the justice system has no forensic arbiter. Credibility becomes the only evidence. Once you see that, every he said, she said case looks different.

What Free Agency Looks Like Now

A veteran wide receiver with a not guilty verdict, a Super Bowl appearance on his résumé, and a trailing allegation is an unusual free agent profile. Contending teams can now evaluate him without a looming criminal cloud, but general managers rarely move quickly on players with active civil exposure or public relations drag. A veteran minimum or incentive heavy deal is more realistic than anything resembling his Patriots contract. Diggs’ next team will be buying production, not brand lift.

The Clock Ran Out

The trial began Monday, May 4, 2026, with Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue telling the jury, “It’s your job to determine what happened on Dec. 2.” Cross examination of Adams continued on May 5. The trial lasted only a couple of days. Judge Jeanmarie Carroll presided. The jury heard Adams describe the crook of an elbow tightening around her neck. They heard a defense attorney say it never happened. Six people chose which account to believe, and returned a not guilty verdict.

What the Verdict Can’t Fix

Most people assume wealth buys a different kind of justice. This trial complicates that assumption in both directions. Fame didn’t prevent felony charges from a single accuser with no physical evidence. Money didn’t make the courtroom disappear. Diggs played in a Super Bowl in February, was released by the Patriots in March, and sat at a defense table in May. Whatever relief an acquittal brings, the person who understands this case knows the real story. In a bedroom with no cameras, a $22.5 million contract and four Pro Bowls carry exactly the same evidentiary weight as a weekly paycheck for private chef work.

If you were one of those six jurors, sitting with two voices and an empty evidence table, which way do you vote, and what would it take to change your mind?

Sources:
Associated Press, “Assault trial of former Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs begins with contrasting accounts,” by Ken Maguire, Dedham, Mass., May 4, 2026
Associated Press, “Former Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs is found not guilty of assaulting his private chef,” Dedham, Mass., May 5, 2026
NFL.com, “Patriots releasing WR Stefon Diggs after one season,” by Kevin Patra, citing NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero, March 4, 2026
ESPN.com, “Source: Patriots to release WR Stefon Diggs after one season,” by Mike Reiss, Foxborough, Mass., March 3, 2026
NFL.com, “Patriots signing WR Stefon Diggs to three-year, $69 million deal,” citing NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, March 25, 2025
Boston Globe, “Chef testifies Stefon Diggs slapped, choked her in Dedham home,” by Travis Andersen, May 4, 2026