The private chef accusing Stefon Diggs of assault dodged a question on Tuesday about whether she demanded $5.5million from him on the eve of the trial.
Jamila Adams, who claims she was struck in the face and strangled by Diggs during an alleged dispute over pay back in December, was asked several times by the NFL star’s lawyer if her attorney requested a seven-figure payout three weeks before the trial got underway.
‘That is client-lawyer privilege. I cannot speak on that,’ Adams said when pressed for an answer from defense attorney Sara Silva.
Silva then questioned whether her alleged financial demand was covered under attorney-client privilege before asking about it again.
At one point, Adams said Diggs had offered her $100,000 to recant her statement to the police, but that remark was struck from the record after the judge called the attorneys to a sidebar.
Before the jury was brought in on the second day of the trial, Adams was warned about deflecting questions in such manner.
The private chef accusing Stefon Diggs of assault dodged a question on the second day of trial
Jamila Adams refused to answer if she demanded $5.5m from Diggs weeks before the trial
‘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 her. ‘If you continue to do so your entire testimony may be stricken. Am I clear?’
Adams confirmed that she understood Carroll’s warning.
After Adams’ testimony concluded and prosecutors rested their case, Diggs called his chief of staff, Jeanelle Sales, to the stand to testify about the day of his alleged assault.
Sales, who also goes by Sunni, testified that she saw Adams at the home on the day she alleged she was assaulted and did not see visible marks, redness or swelling on her neck or face. She said Adams appeared to be in normal spirits.
Defense attorneys sought to challenge Adams’ account through testimony from people in Diggs’ orbit and evidence they said reflected her demeanor in the days after the alleged incident.
As well as Sales, the wide receiver’s massage therapist, a nurse who provided IV treatments and his hairstylist all testified that they saw Adams around the time of the attack and that she said nothing about being assaulted.
Hairstylist Xia Charles testified that she spent time with Adams in New York in the days after the alleged incident and did not notice any injuries. She said she appeared normal and that she did not see marks on her neck or elsewhere.
The NFL star has pleaded not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge
Defense attorneys also showed jurors cellphone videos of Adams socializing, including clips of her in a car listening to music and dancing, which they suggested showed her demeanor in the days following the incident.
Diggs has pleaded not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from the December incident at his home. Closing arguments are expected to begin later Tuesday.
Adams said she met Diggs in 2022 on Instagram and that the two became friends – at times ‘friends with benefits,’ as one of his attorneys described it – before she was later hired to live in his home and prepare his meals during the football season.
The case has turned in part on whether the dispute between them was primarily about money or an alleged assault. Defense attorneys have argued Adams was motivated by a financial dispute, pointing to demands for payment and a planned trip to Miami, while the chef herself has maintained she was reporting an assault.