By Sheetal Banchariya and Leonard Greene
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — An accused cop killer came face-to-face with the victim’s widow Tuesday in a Queens courtroom where prosecutors urged jurors to convict the suspect they say could have killed another officer if his weapon hadn’t jammed.
Ex-con Guy Rivera, 35, faces murder, attempted murder and weapon possession charges nearly two years after the shooting death of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, a Long Island husband and father protecting residents and merchants on his beat in Far Rockaway.
Dozens of uniformed police officers crowded Queens Supreme Court, where lawyers for both sides began their opening statements on the first day of the highly anticipated trial. Diller’s widow, Stephanie Diller, appeared overwhelmed with emotion as she sat in the gallery listening.
Rivera, who had more than 20 prior arrests before the shooting, faces life in prison for the single-shot death of Diller, 31, who had only been on the force for three years.
“Jonathan Diller was a talented person who could have succeeded at any profession that he would have chosen,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said outside the courthouse. “But he knew he had a mission in life — to help people and save lives. And he did that every day as a New York City police officer. Unfortunately, his family is going to have to relive this nightmare for the next three weeks.”
Prosecutors said in court that Diller was supposed to be off the day he was shot but had been called in to work a shift in a neighborhood beset by violence and robberies.
On March 25, 2024, while patrolling a street in Far Rockaway. Diller and his partner, Sgt. Sasha Rosen, crossed paths with a man in a hoodie with an L-shaped object tucked in his pocket, authorities said.
They followed him to a car and asked him several times to roll down his window, cops said. When the door finally opened, Rivera, seated on the passenger side, removed his seatbelt before quickly reaching for his gun and shooting Diller, prosecutors said. The bullet lodged in the officer’s hip below his bulletproof vest, striking an artery and causing massive internal bleeding.
Diller died a short time later at Jamaica Hospital.
Another officer returned fire, hitting Rivera twice.
Cops said Rivera’s gun jammed after he fired the single fatal shot, and Diller’s partner escaped unharmed.
”This individual made a calculated and deliberate action to point a loaded and operable firearm,” Assistant Queens District Attorney Kenneth Zawistowski told jurors. ”He held the firearm in the direction of Officer Diller and pulled the trigger.”
Though mortally wounded, Diller managed to rip the gun out of the shooter’s hand, Zawistowski said.
“Officer Diller was aware that there were innocent lives still around, his fellow officers and nearby citizens,” Zawistowski said. “And it’s at that time, that remarkable moment, that officer Diller fulfilled his solemn promise to protect and serve, no matter the danger, no matter the pain, no matter the cost.”
Rivera’s lawyer, Erin Darcy, told jurors that Rivera did not intend to shoot Diller, and that the fatal shot was fired during a struggle for the weapon. Lindy Jones, who was in the driver’s seat of the car that was stopped, has been charged with gun possession.
“He did not intend to shoot and kill a police officer,” Darcy said.
Days after Diller’s death, mourners, including President Trump, who was in between terms in office, filled a Long Island funeral home to salute the slain officer.
A thin blue line was painted along Merrick Road in the heart of Massapequa Park, where blue ribbons dotted homes throughout the officer’s neighborhood.
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