The grieving widow of NYPD hero Jonathan Diller teared up and repeatedly covered her ears inside a Queens courtroom Tuesday so she didn’t have to hear the haunting sound of the shots that killed her husband.
Stephanie Diller sat in anguish with her eyes shut during closing arguments at the first-degree murder trial of accused cop killer Guy Rivera as footage of her husband’s final moments was displayed for the jury.
She had repeatedly left the courtroom when bodycam footage and images of the murder were presented — up until Tuesday when Rivera’s lawyer blamed the cops.
Stephanie Diller, widow of Jonathan Diller, covers her ears in the courtroom during defense closing arguments in the trial of Guy Rivera at Queens Criminal Court, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Jeff Bachner/Pool“All of the [Command Response Team] officers in this case, they are invested,” defense attorney Jamal 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.”
The widow, who was left to raise the couple’s toddler on her own after the March 25, 2024, fatal shooting in Far Rockaway, has sat among New York’s Finest throughout the trial.
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At one point during summations by Queens Assistant District Attorney John Kosinski the widow didn’t get her hands up in time and grimaced as she heard the gunfire from a bodycam video.
Tears flowed down her face.
Rivera is accused of killing Diller on March 25, 2024. Jeff Bachner/PoolKosinski 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.”
Diller was scheduled to be off the day he was killed and was at the park with his wife and son when he got called in.
Diller is survived by his wife and their young son.
Hours later, he called Stephanie during his lunch break to check in — and it was the last time the two spoke.
Diller and his partners believed Rivera and Jones were casing a local business to rob it when the cops showed up.
Prosecutors presented several bodycam clips that appear to show Rivera shooting Diller and mortally wounding him, then smiling as he’s taken down and handcuffed.
DNA tests later found Rivera’s DNA on two guns at the scene — the 380-caliber handgun that killed Diller and a 9 mm that was stashed in the glove compartment of a Kia Soul the accused murderer was sitting in before his arrest, prosecutors said.
The case is expected to be turned over to the jury Wednesday.
