The accuser of an NFL player was told by a judge to stop spinning her own narrative when giving testimony this week.
Former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs was found not guilty of assault and battery against his former personal chef, as key witnesses and previous testimony seemingly worked against her.
‘This is not an opportunity for you to interject your own narrative.’
Following her refusal to answer direct questions, Jamila Adams was told by a judge several times that her testimony was not an opportunity to “vent” or change the facts of the events as she saw fit.
“This is not an opportunity for you to interject your own narrative and evade responding to questions the court deems appropriate,” Judge Jeanmarie Carroll told Adams on the stand.
Adams had told police that Diggs both smacked her on the face and then strangled her by putting his forearm around her neck while she was working for him at his Dedham, Massachusetts, home on December 2. However, according to the Boston Herald, Adams was inconsistent in her testimony to local police and later admitted she left out certain details with the officer she spoke to because she feared how she would be perceived.
Further testimony from a key witness, one of Adams’ close friends, did not help her case either.
Witness Xia Charles, who is also a hairstylist for Diggs, testified that she and Adams had a video call on the night of the alleged attack by Diggs, but Charles said she did not see any redness around the accuser’s neck. Adams also did not appear to have cried or to be flushed in any way.
There were even videos and dash camera footage of the two women shown by the defense, which the Herald noted did not show any visible injuries. Some of the videos were recorded by the women themselves as the pair watched movies and drank.
Charles claimed that Adams said she planned to sue Diggs for back pay and having to endure a hostile work environment, while saying she would take her story “to the blogs”; Adams denied this.
Adams also claimed that Diggs “offered me $100,000 to recant my statement” but was unable to confirm or deny that someone had demanded a $5.5 million payment from Diggs on her behalf, TMZ reported.
Adams’ $100,000 claim was just one of the times the judge struck her testimony from the record.
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Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
After two days of testimony, the jury took just 90 minutes to deliberate and reach a not guilty verdict.
“This case never should have been brought. It was a waste of resources,” Diggs’ attorney, Mitchell Schuster, said after the trial.
“No assault ever occurred,” he added, per the Daily Record.
Diggs’ team said he hopes to be signed by another NFL franchise following the trial; he was released by the Patriots in March. He had been on a three-year, $63.5 million contract.
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