Guy Rivera, who fatally shot NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller, of Massapequa Park, sentenced to 115 years to life

The convicted killer of NYPD detective Jonathan Diller was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison Monday by a Queens state judge.

Judge Michael Aloise showed no mercy to the 36 year-old Guy Rivera who was convicted earlier this month for the aggravated manslaughter of Diller, 31 from Massapequa Park, during a March 2024 street shooting in Far Rockaway.

Aloise hit Rivera with a combined consecutive prison terms totaling 115 years to life in prison for the manslaughter conviction, as well as a charge of attempted murder of a second officer, NYPD Sergeant Sasha Rosen, and two weapons offenses.

Diller’s widow, Stephanie, looked directly at Rivera in the courtroom as she spoke in an emotional voice before sentencing about how her life had been torn apart by the killing of her spouse.

"In an instant, everything in my life ended," Stephanie Diller said, as she dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief.

Diller’s mother, Fran, also spoke, choking back tears as she read from a prepared statement.

The sentence was an enhanced one because of Rivera’s two prior felony convictions, one for a drug offense and another for shooting a gun at some bystanders, police and family members during a larceny.

Defense attorney Jamal Johnson said Rivera would be appealing his conviction because of the way Aloise instructed the jury. Rivera declined to speak before Aloise sentenced him.

A Queens jury sparked outrage and controversy when on April 1 it failed to convict Rivera of the top charge of first-degree murder of a police officer but instead found him guilty of the lesser included offense of aggravated manslaughter in the first degree.

The jury also convicted Rivera, an ex-con with a prior record of assault with a handgun, for the attempted first degree murder of Diller’s partner, Rosen, was well as two firearms offenses.

But while the failure to convict on murder in the first degree charge marginally lessened the penalty Rivera faced by cutting out the chance that he wouldn’t be considered for parole, the 90-year-to-life sentence all but assured that Aloise had the leeway to slam him with an effective sentence of life behind bars.

During the two-week-long trial, jurors watched numerous police body camera and outside surveillance videos that caught the fateful encounter as Diller and fellow officers surrounded a Kia Soul both Rivera and Lindy Jones were sitting in.

Diller asked Rivera, who; police suspected was carrying a firearm, to get out of the time but he refused. Finally, in an instant after the car door was opened, police videos showed Rivera pull out a .38-caliber handgun which discharged in the direction of Diller, mortally wounding him in the abdomen under his bullet-resistant vest. Diller died about an hour later at Jamaica Hospital and Medical Center.

Stephanie Diller testified briefly during the trial, barely containing her grief as she related the last words she and her husband said to each other: "I love you."

The acquittal on the first-degree murder charge drew an instant outcry from the NYPD and the Police Benevolent Association. Although Diller’s family didn’t comment at the time the verdict was announced, the disappointment was very apparent, particularly on in the shocked look of his widow.

"The failure to convict on murder 1 landed like a gut punch to all members of the NYPD," New York Police Commissioner Jessica said in a statement, expressing her "profound disappointment" at the verdict.

PBA president Patrick Hendry said right after the verdict that in his view the evidence supported a murder 1 convict, "no doubt about it.,"

Jurors appeared divided at one point when the panel issued the verdict but had it nullified when one juror said the verdict didn’t reflect his decision. Aloise sent the panel back and a couple of hours later the group returned the same verdict, with unanimity.

Rivera’s Legal Aid Society defense attorneys had argued in their opening and closing statements to the jury that the discharge of Rivera’s handgun was unintentional, caused by Rosen  trying to grab the defendant’s hand holding the gun. The video evidence, while not clear-cut, apparently was enough to raise doubts among jurors that Rivera intentionally wanted to kill Diller when he bolted from the car with the handgun drawn and pointed at the detective

The lesser included offense of aggravated manslaughter in the first degree required a showing to the jury’s satisfaction that Rivera intended to harm Diller and in doing so caused his death.