Devin Spraggins, of Queens, sentenced for shooting NYPD Detective Brett Boller

A 24-year-old Queens man was sentenced to 39 years to life years in prison Monday for his conviction last month in what a Queens judge called the "attempted execution" last year of a rookie NYPD officer from Long Island.

In a Queens courtroom, Devin Spraggins stood motionless, his hands cuffed behind him as State Supreme Court Judge Kenneth Holder hit him with the near maximum sentence for the wounding in 2023 of Det. Brett Boller, of Hauppauge, during an incident which started on a bus and spread out onto the street.

Boller, who had graduated from the police academy in December 2022 and was promoted to the rank of detective after the shooting, sat silently in the courtroom with his father, NYPD Inspector Donald Boller, and mother, Leanne, as Holder imposed sentence, which included additional prison terms of 1 to 15 years for various other crimes in the indictment.

Scores of NYPD officers filled the courtroom, as well as an adjacent overflow room, to listen to the sentencing proceedings.

Spraggins, described by defense attorney Michael Horn as having beenan abused and abandoned youth, faced a 40 years to life maximum sentence, although Holder didn’t explain why he reduced his sentence by one year.

Queens Assistant District Attorney Kanella Georgopoulos said the incident could have been much worse but for the fact the magazine fell out of the gun Spraggins used in the April 2023 shooting. That prevented Spraggins from firing additional shots, prosecutors said.

"He tried to shoot a second time at office Boller," said Georgopoulos. “He wanted to finish him off."

Horn said the entire trial was “sad and pointless" but something Spraggins wanted to go through.

Horn said Spraggins grew up in a life marred by "alcohol, abuse and absence" and asked for Holder to give a sentence of 20 years to life so Spraggins would have time to turn his life around and get out on parole.

But Holder said, "I really don’t have a lot of faith in the parole board" and said Spraggins "effectively tried to execute" Boller and "didn’t give a damn about his life."

Following the sentencing, Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Hendry said outside the courthouse that Holder's stiff sentence sent a clear message to the city and court system that if a cop is assaulted "you are going to stay behind bars for a long, long time."

Boller’s father, Donald, who is with the detective borough in Queens South, thanked detectives and prosecutors for making the case. Brett Boller declined to comment.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said afterward that Holder noted that Spraggins not only tried to get away from Boller and his partner, Anthony Rock, but tried to shoot additional times.

"Had it not been for the fact that the magazine had fallen out, Officer Boller would have been dead and we would have been having a very different press conference today," she said.

Holder noted that Rock was so devastated by the shooting that he has left the NYPD.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.