DRAFT: Prosecutors and defense lawyers delivered closing arguments in a New York City trial over the 2024 shooting death of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller, setting up a jury decision expected to begin Wednesday in Queens. Guy Rivera is charged in connection with a March 25, 2024, traffic stop in which prosecutors say Rivera intentionally fired at Diller, and defense attorneys say the shooting was not proven to be deliberate.
In his closing argument for the prosecution, John Kosinski pointed to video evidence and testimony from officers, saying those materials showed Rivera pulled out a concealed handgun and intentionally shot Diller. Kosinski also described what he said Diller did after being wounded, saying the officer tried to help disarm Rivera to make sure no one else was hurt.
Kosinski told jurors that “Diller chose life. The defendant chose differently,” and he held up the bullet he said was taken from Diller’s body. He also said Diller was promoted to detective posthumously. Kosinski said the evidence showed Rivera intended to use the gun that day, describing actions he said Rivera took before pulling it out, including loading the clip, chambering a round and switching off the safety.
Kosinski then responded to defense efforts to undermine the prosecution’s account of what the body-camera footage showed. He dismissed the defense suggestion that the jury should disregard the officers’ narrative and said the video and other evidence showed Rivera fired the gun, arguing, “We don’t tell a story to fit the facts. The facts tell the story,” and that Rivera “pulled the trigger” and “It was in his hands.”
Jamal Johnson, representing Rivera, argued that the prosecution did not prove the shooting was intentional, which he said is required for a first-degree murder conviction. Johnson said prosecutors’ evidence left open the possibility that the gun accidentally discharged as another officer struggled with Rivera, and he told jurors, “This is not intentional. This is not targeted.” He also said trial testimony from officers on the scene contradicted their own body-camera footage.
Johnson spoke before a courtroom packed with uniformed officers and with Diller’s family present, urging jurors to “question everything” in the police narrative. He also argued that the officers who testified had a “motive to lie,” and he urged jurors not to accept what he described as a misreading of the bodycam.
The case centers on the events authorities said occurred while Diller and other officers were on patrol in the Far Rockaway section of Queens. Authorities said one officer spotted a suspicious object bulging from Rivera’s hoodie as Rivera and another man walked to a parked car and got in, with Rivera, prosecutors said, seated in the passenger seat.
Prosecutors say officers were questioning the driver when Rivera suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Diller. They said the bullet struck Diller below his bulletproof vest, mortally wounding him, before another officer shot and wounded Rivera. Prosecutors and defense also pointed jurors to inconsistencies between testimony and body-camera recordings, making how the jury reads the video evidence a key issue.
Rivera could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder. The defendant also faces other charges, including attempted murder.
Beyond the courtroom, the case drew national attention during Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign for the White House. The AP reported that the fatal shooting of Diller “briefly became a focal point” during that political period, when Trump attended the officer’s wake and continued to cast the Democrat-led city as a crime hotspot during his run.
After visiting the funeral home with Diller’s family, Trump called the death “such a sad, sad event, such a horrible thing,” according to the AP report. The former president also said “The police are the greatest people we have. There’s nothing and there’s nobody like them. And this should never happen,” as memorial services for the 31-year-old on Long Island drew thousands of visitors, including Trump.