However, 36-year-old Guy Rivera was still hammered with a sentence of 115 years to life in prison, the Queens District Attorney’s office said.
Rivera was convicted of aggravated manslaughter in the death of NYPD Det. Jonathan Diller, a 31-year-old Massapequa Park resident. He was also found guilty of attempted first-degree murder for pointing the gun at another cop, Sgt. Sasha Rosen, and two weapons charges.
The verdict left Judge Michael Aloise with plenty of discretion over Rivera’s sentence, and he dropped the hammer during Monday’s hearing. Rivera got 40 years for attempted murder, 25 for aggravated manslaughter, and 25 each for both weapons possession counts, according to the district attorney’s office. The sentences will run consecutively.
Aloise’s decision “means Rivera will spend the rest of his life in prison. That is obviously the right result, for him and for anyone who kills a New York City Police Officer,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch wrote on social media.
Diller was shot dead on March 25, 2024, while investigating violence at the Mott Avenue subway station in Far Rockaway. Body-cam video showed Rivera pointing the gun at Diller before he was shot and killed.
Rivera’s lawyers argued at trial that he didn’t intend to pull the trigger and instead, the gun fired when Rosen grabbed his arm. The argument apparently held sway with the jury but not Aloise, who on Monday described Rivera as a “persistent felon walking these streets with a loaded weapon,” the New York Post reported.
Diller’s widow, Stephanie, also spoke at Monday’s hearing and told Rivera he'd given her and their son "a life sentence without him," according to the Post.
Rivera’s attorneys said they plan to appeal the sentence.
Click here to follow Daily Voice and receive free news updates.
