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DEDHAM — The assault trial of former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs began in district court here Monday with jury selection.
Diggs, 33, is charged with strangulation or suffocation, a felony, and a misdemeanor count of assault and battery in connection with the incident, which court records say took place at his home here on Dec. 2, 2025. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Diggs hit a woman working for him as a private chef across the face and wrapped his arm around her neck from behind amid a dispute about money she believed he owed her. He was released by the Patriots in March.
Judge Jeanmarie Carroll is overseeing the trial. Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Drew Virtue is prosecuting the case, and attorney Andrew Kettlewell is leading Diggs’ defense. The jury comprises six women and one man.
Follow live updates from the first day of the trial below:
12:54 p.m. - Judge calls lunch break
With Diggs’ accuser still on the stand, Carroll dismissed the jury for lunch. Without the jury in the room, she asked the lawyers if there were any issues that needed to be addressed. They said there weren’t.
Testimony will resume around 2 p.m.
12:40 p.m. - Accuser takes the stand
Diggs’ accuser was the first witness called by the prosecution.
She began her testimony by describing her background, explaining that she has worked as a private chef for 13 years.
The woman said she met Diggs through Instagram in 2021. When Virtue asked her about their relationship, she exhaled and said it was, “complicated.”
They began as friends, but their relationship turned sexual, she said. She was officially hired to work for Diggs in February 2025.
The woman then began to explain a dispute she had with Diggs and a woman who worked for him, beginning in November 2025. The disagreement came after someone direct messaged someone who was friends with the mother of Diggs’ child.
The message accused the woman of “telling his personal business of women he was sleeping with, ”she said.
Diggs confronted her about the messages, as did a woman who worked for him, she said.
12:22 p.m. - Assault ‘never happened,’ defense lawyer says
Kettlewell began his opening by telling the jury simply that the assault the prosecution described “never happened.”
There were six people in Diggs’ home that day, including his assistant, who will be a witness at trial, and none of them saw anything out of the ordinary, according to Kettlewell.
Prosecutors have no physical evidence, medical records or photos and videos showing injuries to support their case, he said.
On Dec. 2, Diggs was in a “good mood,” having played well the previous night in a Patriots victory over the New York Giants.
That week, the Patriots had a bye and Diggs had made plans to bring some friends to Miami.
The woman was “quietly sheeting about being left off” that trip, Kettlewell said. She was not just a chef for Diggs, she was a friend and, at times, a friend with benefits, he said.
She was hired to work as his chef in July 2025 and paid $2,000 a week. The woman lived full-time in Diggs’ home, as did several other staff members.
As the regular season went on, the woman’s place in Diggs’ entourage “began to slip,” Kettlewell said.
By Dec. 2, she was “furious” about being left off the trip.
Kettlewell told jurors to carefully examine the woman’s text messages with Diggs — they will show that what she turned over to police was a “curated” selection of their conversations.
There was “nothing out of the ordinary” for the woman about Dec. 2 — she cooked dinner for Diggs, then flew to New York City to spend the week with friends, Kettlewell said.
A week later, on Dec. 9, she returned to the home. When she spoke to police, she would say she was going to pack her things. Kettlewell contended that she “went back to work like nothing had happened.”
Speaking to police, the woman “told them a made-up story” because she was “furious and wanted Mr. Diggs to pay,” Kettlewell said.
Her demands for money began on Dec. 29, and have continued as the case has neared trial.
“That number has only gone up,” Kettlewell said.
Diggs sits before the jury an innocent man, falsely accused of a crime, the lawyer said. He urged them to find Diggs not guilty.
12:13 p.m. - Prosecution delivers opening statement
Virtue began by addressing the jury directly, explaining to them that their role was going to be to determine the facts of what happened on Dec. 2, 2025.
He offered a roadmap of the prosecution’s case: they will hear from the woman who worked for Diggs about her background, how she came to work for the wide receiver and a disagreement they had that started over text.
On Dec. 2, Virtue told the jury, Diggs entered the woman’s bedroom at his home, walked up to her, slapped her, put her in a headlock, threw her down on the bed and left.
The woman continued working for Diggs after that and had a dispute over a payment. Virtue told the panel that members of Diggs’ staff told the woman she needed to sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to get paid — the first time any such agreement had been raised.
Virtue told them he would call a Dedham police officer to the stand, who would explain how charges came to be filed against Diggs.
“Right now your main job is to listen,” he said, asking them to consider each witness’s financial relationship to Diggs.
11:30 a.m. - Jury picked
After a little under two hours of jury selection, seven people were picked to serve as jurors in Diggs’ case.
Because the trial is being held in district court, only six jurors are needed to deliberate. Superior court cases have 12 deliberating jurors in Massachusetts.
The judge presiding over the trial is addressing the panel. The trial will adjourn for a morning recess after that. When the case resumes, the jury will hear opening arguments.
More stories about Stefon Diggs
- Trial for ex-Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs begins Monday
- Stefon Diggs gets a trial date in assault and strangulation case
- Only one year was the right amount of Stefon Diggs for the Patriots
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