An explosive verdict was reached Wednesday night in the slaying of hero NYPD cop Jonathan Diller — with the jury acquitting the shooter of the top charge of first-degree murder and settling on manslaughter.
Guy Rivera, 36, who fatally shot the officer and married dad outside a cell-phone store in Queens two years ago, was convicted on all of the lesser charges, including aggravated manslaughter, attempted murder of Diller’s partner and weapons raps.
Rivera killed Diller in Far Rockaway on March 25, 2024, in a caught-on-video scuffle with New York’s Finest.
Cops were investigating a suspicious vehicle when Rivera shot Diller and had a gun pointed at a police sergeant’s chest when another officer at the scene shot and wounded the goon, authorities said — with the drama captured on heart-stopping bodycam footage.
Rivera, who was a passenger in the parked Kia Soul, was arrested at the scene along with driver Lindy Jones, while Diller was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Jones is awaiting trial on felony gun possession charges.
As the deliberations began Wednesday, Rivera’s mother sat in the front row of the courtroom just 6 feet from her son — and sobbed when bodycam footage of the fatal shooting was played after the jury requested a second look.
Dressed in purple, the woman covered her mouth with her hands shaking as the footage played out, then pulled a tissue from her purse to wipe her tears.
During his closing arguments, defense attorney Jamal Johnson tried to turn the tables by blaming the other cops at the scene for Diller’s shooting death.
“All of the [Command Response Team] officers in this case, they are invested,” Johnson told the jury. “They have a motive to lie.
“You see, this is what happens when you’re stopping people and you’re doing it in a dishonest way and we’re going to speak the truth here today,” he added. “This is how detailed we have to be in our fight for justice.”
Kosinski ripped the defense claim that Rivera, a career criminal with 21 prior busts, was the victim of a police cover-up.
“Almost a month, almost 30 witnesses,” the prosecutors told jurors. “Stipulations, videos, forensics: You’ve heard it all. What did we hear for two hours this morning? Police liars. Government misleading.
“We didn’t hear about one thing: This man’s actions on that day,” Kosinski said. “That’s why we’re here. This isn’t about the New York City Police Department. It’s about this defendant’s actions on that day.”
The slain officer’s widow, Stephanie Diller, has been in the Queens courtroom for the accused cop killer’s trial with dozens of police officers surrounding her – but she has left the room each time photos of videos of her husband’s death have been played for the jury.
On Tuesday, she covered her ears repeatedly to block out the sound of the gunshot that killed her husband from police bodycam videos that captured the slaying.
Several cops, including NYPD officer Veckash Khedna, who shot and wounded Rivera, provided tearful testimony detailing Diller’s last moments of life.
Rivera opted not to testify in his own defense.
