Stefon Diggs says assault never happened as trial begins - ESPN

DEDHAM, Mass. — The assault trial of Stefon Diggs began Monday with a prosecutor describing how Diggs' private chef was slapped and put in a headlock while lawyers for the former New England Patriots wide receiver insisted he was innocent and that the violent attack never happened.

The four-time Pro Bowl wideout has pleaded not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from the December incident. A jury was selected earlier Monday and received its instructions.

Diggs, 33, declined to speak to reporters as he arrived at Norfolk County District Court in Dedham, a Boston suburb.

Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue said the chef, Mila Adams, would testify how Diggs had entered her bedroom, slapped her and put her in a headlock that made breathing difficult before throwing her on the bed.

«It's your job to determine what happened on Dec. 2,» Virtue told the jury in his opening statement.

Diggs' attorney, Andrew Kettlewell, insisted that his client did nothing wrong and that he never attacked his chef. Kettlewell said that no one in the house at the time of the alleged attack saw or heard anything out of the ordinary and there was no evidence of the attack. There are no medical records nor photos or video documenting the attack.

«The assault that the Commonwealth described in their opening statement never happened. It did not happen,» Kettlewell said.

Instead, Kettlewell described a brewing dispute between Adams and members of Diggs' entourage that came to a head on Dec. 2 when Adams learned she would not be part of a weeklong trip the wideout was taking to Miami. He also alleged that Adams' demands for money increased in the weeks after she filed a police report