A Queens jury announced on Wednesday evening it had reached a verdict in the case against a 36-year-old man charged in the fatal shooting of NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller of Long Island in 2024, only to be forced back into deliberations when one of the jurors said in court he disagreed on one of the counts.
The jury announced it has convicted Guy Rivera of aggravated manslaughter but acquitted him of the top count of first-degree murder in the death of Diller, of Massapequa Park, after a few hours of deliberations.
But chaos ensued immediately after the verdict was announced when, while the jury was being individually polled, one of the jurors told the judge that he didn’t agree with the verdict on one of the counts.
The judge ordered the panel back into the jury room for more deliberations.
Rivera went on trial in Queens State Supreme Court on March 10 in front of a jury which included 16 regular members and alternates. He was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder of a police officer as well as various weapons counts. But the judge on Tuesday also allowed the jury to consider first-degree aggravated manslaughter as a lesser offense.
Stephanie Diller, the officer’s widow, put both hands to her face when Rivera was acquitted of first-degree murder, a felony that carries at least 25 years to life behind bars.
On Wednesday, the jury also announced they had found him guilty of first-degree attempted murder of a police officer and guilty of two weapon charges.
The jurors were still deliberating as of 6:30 p.m.
The prosecution’s case centered around the testimony of Diller’s fellow police officers at the crime scene. Police body camera videos were also key pieces of evidence used by both the prosecution and defense. The defense rested without calling any witness.
Rivera, of Queens, was represented by attorneys for the Legal Aid Society. Rivera had a previous criminal record which sent him to state prison.
The 31-year-old Diller was part of a special community response team, an anti-crime unit, on a dinner break around 5:30 p.m. the afternoon of March 25, 2024, on Mott Avenue in Queens.
NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller was shot and killed in the line of duty in Far Rocakaway, Queens, on March 25, 2024. Credit: NYPD
Trial evidence showed that Diller and other officers surrounded a Kia Soul car parked by 19-19 Mott Avenue in which Rivera was a passenger. Moments before Rivera entered the vehicle, NYPD Sgt. Sasha Rosen testified he saw the outlines of a firearm in Rivera’s hoodie.
With Rosen suspicious that Rivera was armed, he, Diller and other officers approached the car and Diller — who was standing by the passenger side door — asked Rivera to exit the car. All of the officers were dressed in distinctive khaki pants and had on NYPD raid jackets emblazoned with the letters “NYPD.”
Police videos showed that Rivera initially refused to roll down the driver’s side window and wouldn’t exit the car when repeatedly ordered to do so by Diller. The door finally opened when another officer on the driver side reached where co-defendant Lindy Jones was seated and opened the door locks.
“Yo, don’t go into your pocket!” one officer said to Rivera in an alarming voice as the passenger door opened.
It was then that the incident accelerated in a flash as Rivera was seen on body camera videos leaning toward Diller, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a .380-caliber handgun, later determined to be illegal, which fired, fatally wounding Diller.
Diller fell to the ground, saying he was shot in the leg when in fact he suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
Another officer fired at Rivera, who suffered back and arm wounds which sent him to hospital.
Diller was rushed in a police car to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. where doctors worked feverishly to revive. When he arrived in the emergency room Diller was dead but doctors were able to revive his heart a number of times. But having lost about 75% of his blood, Diller died at about 8 p.m. that night.
Defense attorneys had argued in their opening statement and summation that the events captured on the videos indicated that the shooting was unintentional and the result of Rosen, who was standing with Diller by the passenger door, reaching in and grabbing Rivera’s arm holding the gun.
Queens Supreme Court Judge Michael Aloise allowed for the possibility that the jury might find that Rivera lacked intent to kill Diller when he included for the panel’s consideration a charge of aggravated manslaughter in the first degree. That charge requires reckless as opposed to intentional action in causing a death.
Widow Stephanie Diller, center, is seen at Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday as the jury begins deliberations against a man charged in her husband’s killing. Credit: Gregory P. Mango/New York Post/Gregory P. Mango/New York Post
Diller’s wife Stephanie and other family member attended each day of the trial, leaving the courtroom only when the graphic videos of Diller being shot were shown to the jury.
Stephanie Diller testified briefly and emotionally about the fact that he husband had called to say he would be home for dinner. In about 15 minutes Diller was mortally wounded.
“I love you,” Diller had told his wife before leaving for work, Stephanie recalled.
“I love you too,” she replied.
The case Diller case doesn’t end with the Rivera verdict. Lindy Jones, 43, the driver of the Kia Soul, wasn’t charged with Diller’s death but instead faces trial in the future for weapons possession in connection with a defaced handgun found in the glove compartment of the car.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.