{"id":182862,"date":"2026-04-01T23:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182862\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T23:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:29:09","slug":"jury-reaches-split-verdict-in-trial-of-man-accused-of-killing-nypd-det-jonathan-diller-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182862\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury reaches split verdict in trial of man accused of killing NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A New York City jury found the man accused of killing a police detective during a traffic stop in Queens not guilty of murder, but guilty of lesser charges in the fatal shooting.<\/p>\n<p>In their verdict Wednesday, jurors ruled that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/jonathan-diller-shot-killed-nypd-queens-guy-rivera-trial\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Guy Rivera<\/a> was guilty of aggravated manslaughter in the first degree, attempted murder in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon for firing his gun at 31-year-old\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/jonathan-diller-shot-killed-nypd-queens-guy-rivera-trial\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller<\/a>\u00a0and killing him after a stop\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nypd-officer-shot-during-altercation-with-suspect-in-queens\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">in Far Rockaway<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>When the judge initially asked each individual juror to confirm the verdict, one juror disagreed. The judge informed the jury the verdict must be unanimous, and they were sent back to deliberate.<\/p>\n<p>The jury returned a few hours later and confirmed the same verdict.<\/p>\n<p>Sentencing has been scheduled for April 27.\u00a0Victim impact statements will be read at that hearing.<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gainer-5p-pkg-detective-wcbsh4fi-hi-res-still.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"Jonathan Diller, wife Stephanie Diller and their son \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  Jonathan Diller, wife Stephanie Diller and their son<\/p>\n<p>                New York City Police Benevolent Association<\/p>\n<p>Rivera, 36,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nypd-jonathan-diller-guy-rivera-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pleaded not guilty<\/a>\u00a0after prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder of a police officer, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Defense lawyers argued it was an &#8220;unintentional discharge&#8221; of Rivera&#8217;s gun and that no evidence showed he intended to pull the trigger. They said Sgt. Sasha Rosen, who was with Diller, grabbed Rivera&#8217;s wrist and caused the gun to go off. The sergeant denied those allegations in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jurors watched\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nypd-detective-jonathan-diller-murder-trial-day-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">bodycam footage<\/a>\u00a0of the encounter and heard testimony from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nypd-detective-jonathan-diller-murder-trial-widow-testifies\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the detective&#8217;s widow<\/a>\u00a0during the trial.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What happened to Det. Jonathan Diller?<\/p>\n<p>During the trial, prosecutors said on March 25, 2024, Diller was called in on his day off to address violence and robbery concerns at the Mott Avenue train station  in Far Rockaway.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say Diller was with other members of the NYPD&#8217;s Community Response team when Rivera was spotted with what appeared to be a gun in his hoodie pocket. Rivera allegedly got into a car with another man,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nypd-jonathan-diller-shooting-lindy-jones-court-appearance\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lindy Jones<\/a>, and ignored officers&#8217; commands before allegedly shooting Diller after being pulled out of the car.<\/p>\n<p>Diller was struck in the torso, just below his bullet-resistant vest. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died from his injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors said Rivera pointed the weapon at Rosen after Diller was shot, but the gun jammed.<\/p>\n<p>Rivera was shot twice by police.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NYPD community mourns loss<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of police officers have attended court hearings leading up to and during the trial to show their support.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Diller was a husband and father who lived on Long Island. He was an officer at the time of the shooting and was posthumously promoted to detective.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of police officers\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nypd-officer-shot-jonathan-diller-wake-today-in-massapequa\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">attended his funeral in Massapequa<\/a>, and President Trump also visited for half an hour to speak with Diller&#8217;s wife.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__meta--contributors\">\n<p>                                  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/Alice-Gainer\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alice  Gainer<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        contributed to this report.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New York City jury found the man accused of killing a police detective during a traffic stop&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3109,9,11,10,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-182862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-far-rockaway","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-nypd"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182862","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=182862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}