A jury will soon decide the fate of a man charged in the 2024 shooting death of New York City police officer, considering a case that briefly became a focal point during President Donald Trump\u2019s campaign to reclaim the White House.<\/p>\n
The fatal shooting of Jonathan Diller was cast at the time as an issue of \u201claw and order\u201d by the then-Republican candidate, who attended the officer’s wake and continued to cast the Democrat-led city as a hotbed of crime throughout his run. <\/p>\n
Among the key questions jurors will weigh is whether defendant Guy Rivera intended to shoot Diller during the March 25, 2024, traffic stop in Queens, with the prosecution and defense arguing both sides during closings on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor John Kosinski said video evidence and testimony from officers showed Rivera pulled out a concealed handgun and intentionally shot Diller.<\/p>\n
Instead of taking retribution and returning fire, the wounded Diller assisted others in disarming Rivera to make sure no one else got hurt, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cDiller chose life. The defendant chose differently,\u201d Kosinski said as he held up the bullet taken from the body of Diller, who was promoted to detective posthumously.<\/p>\n
Rivera\u2019s lawyer, Jamal Johnson, argued that prosecutors failed to prove that the shooting was intentional, which is a key requirement to secure a first-degree murder conviction. Instead, he argued that the gun accidentally discharged as another officer struggled with Rivera.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not intentional. This is not targeted,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
Trial testimony from officers on the scene that day also contradicted their own body camera footage, he argued. <\/p>\n
Speaking before a courtroom packed with uniformed officers and Diller\u2019s family, Johnson urged jurors to \u201cquestion everything\u201d in the police narrative and suggested that the officers who testified had a \u201cmotive to lie.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThey want you to disbelieve what the bodycam shows,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe man who was driving the car connected to the murder of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller was back in court Monday with a new attorney. A sea of officers stood by as Lindy Jones appeared in court, as police allege a loaded .9-mm pistol was found in his glove box after Diller was shot. NBC New York’s Jessica Cunnington reports.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Kosinski brushed aside that notion, saying, \u201cWilliam Shakespeare couldn\u2019t come up with the words to show the defendant didn\u2019t fire that gun.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the evidence showed that Rivera intended to use the gun that day because he loaded the clip, chambered a round and switched off the safety before he stuffed it in his pocket. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t tell a story to fit the facts. The facts tell the story,\u201d Kosinski said. \u201cHe pulled the trigger. It was in his hands. That\u2019s what happened here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The jury is expected to begin deliberating Wednesday in the trial, which has lasted about three weeks.<\/p>\n
Rivera could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder. The 36-year-old also faces other charges, including attempted murder.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOfficer Jonathan Diller was with another officer in the Far Rockaway neighborhood near Mott Avenue and Beach 19th Street before 6 p.m. when they approached a vehicle for being parked illegally at a bus stop. Diller was shot and later died. NBC New York’s Jessica Cunnington and Checkey Beckford have team coverage.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The shooting happened while Diller and other officers were on patrol in the Far Rockaway section of Queens. Authorities say one of the officers spotted a suspicious object bulging from Rivera\u2019s hoodie as he and another man walked to a parked car and got in.<\/p>\n
Police say the officers were questioning the driver when Rivera, who was in the passenger\u2019s seat, suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Diller.<\/p>\n
The bullet struck the officer below his bulletproof vest, mortally wounding him. Another officer then shot and wounded Rivera. <\/p>\n
At the time, Diller was the first NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty in two years. Memorial services for the 31-year-old in his hometown on Long Island drew thousands of visitors, including Trump. <\/p>\n
After visiting the funeral home with Diller’s family, Trump called his death \u201csuch a sad, sad event, such a horrible thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police are the greatest people we have. There\u2019s nothing and there\u2019s nobody like them. And this should never happen,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A jury will soon decide the fate of a man charged in the 2024 shooting death of New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3294,9,11,10,103,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-181654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-crime-and-courts","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-nypd","13":"tag-queens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}