NEW YORK (AP) — A man convicted in the 2024 shooting death of a New York City police officer during a traffic stop will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a judge sentenced him Monday to 115 years to life in prison.
During an emotional hearing in a Queens courtroom packed by uniformed police officers and Officer Jonathan Diller’s family, the judge said Guy Rivera “most certainly will” die in a prison cell.
“Your sentence to me was determined the second you pulled that trigger,” Judge Michael Aloise told Rivera. “It took me five minutes to calculate the numbers. It’s going to take you a lifetime to calculate the damage you caused.”
A jury found Rivera guilty earlier this month of aggravated manslaughter and other charges in Diller's killing, but acquitted the 36-year-old Queens resident of murder.
The shooting happened on March 25, 2024, when 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’s hoodie as he and another man walked to a parked car and got in.
Police say the officers were questioning the driver when Rivera, who was in the passenger’s seat, suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Diller. The bullet struck the officer below his bulletproof vest, mortally wounding him. Another officer then shot and wounded Rivera.
At the time, Diller was the first NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty in two years. The 31-year-old’s wake and funeral in his hometown on Long Island drew thousands of people, including President Donald Trump, and the case briefly became a focal point during his 2024 campaign to reclaim the White House on a message of “law and order.”
The Republican president hailed Diller an “unbelievably wonderful person and a great officer” in a March 2025 speech to a joint session of Congress.
Prosecutors had argued that Rivera was deserving of life behind bars because he was a “persistent felon” with prior criminal convictions who had made a “calculated, deliberate and evil choice” to inflict violence.
“This was not an accident,” Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Zawistowski said. “We ask that you honor Jonathan’s life. We ask that you honor his sacrifice."
Source: WPLG
