Queens man gets 39 years to life for attempted murder of police officer
/By Noah Powelson
For the past month, dozens of Queens police officers flooded the courtrooms at the Queens Criminal Courthouse in a show of silent solidarity for their injured peer who was shot last year by a young man from Jamaica.
The long trial officially came to an end on Monday when the man who shot their fellow officer was given the maximum sentence.
Devin Spraggins, a 24-year-old from Jamaica, was found guilty by a jury last month for shooting then-rookie police officer Brett Boller in the leg in April 2023. Boller’s hip was shattered by the bullet and he required multiple surgeries and months of recovery that left the rookie officer relegated to desk work.
Under New York State law, any attempted crimes committed against a police officer are treated with the same severity as if the crime was successfully completed. As such, Spraggins was sentenced to 39 years to life in prison by Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder on Monday.
“An attack on a police officer is an attack on all of us,” Assistant District Attorney Kanella Georgopoulos said during the sentencing. “The defendant sent a message to the entire community: That he is above the law, and he will do what he wants.”
The shooting incident occurred after an MTA bus driver called Boller and his then-partner over to stop Spraggins, who had just punched another passenger over a bus seat. Spraggins, who was armed with a loaded pistol, fled. When Boller caught up to the defendant, Spraggins shot Boller point blank in the leg.
Nearly a dozen individual cameras, including street surveillance and police body cameras, captured the shooting and showed Spraggins pointing a gun at the wounded Boller screaming on the ground. During the trial, Georgopoulos also called forward an NYPD firearm expert who testified the sound of “dry firing,” when a gun is fired without ammunition loaded, is audible in the body camera recording.
That tiny, audible click of the empty gun is what ultimately sent Spraggins’ behind bars for the next several decades. The attempt to fire a second bullet, the prosecution argued and Holder ultimately agreed with, showed Spraggins was not just trying to flee, but to kill Boller.
The evidence and testimony presented at trial made it a very difficult case for Spraggins’ attorney, Michale Horn, to challenge, Holder said during the sentencing.
Horn described the entire case as “extremely bizarre.” The overwhelming video evidence left little to no room for debate of the exact order of events of the shooting. Despite the evidence against him, Spraggins refused a plea deal and requested a trial.
Yet when the time came for Spraggins to testify, at the last minute he changed his mind.
Horn argued that Spraggins had gone through a lifetime of abuse, and he was a scared, panicked youth when he shot Boller. Horn said Spraggins was previously diagnosed with bipolarism and ADHD, and that his father forced him to live in a shelter and in group homes.
As he did during the trial, Spraggins remained silent and offered no alternative narrative for the shooting or his own motives.
Horn argued that “the system failed Mr. Spraggins,” and said that his client still had potential for reform, but a harsh prison sentence could ruin that chance. Horn requested the minimum sentence, but Holder said “the court was not moved.”
In his ruling, Holder said that Spraggins had “effectively tried to execute [Boller]” over nothing.
Though the judge agreed with Horn that the shooting was likely due to a combination of a troubled youth panicking and making poor decisions, he also said thousands go through just as difficult life experiences as Spraggins without attempting to harm others.
Holder stated this case was a perfect example of the damage illegal firearms among youth can do, and that Spraggins’ actions were a result of gun possession emboldening a young man. In response to requests for a lighter sentence, Holder said he saw no reason to give Spraggins a chance to reset his own life trajectory when the defendant forever altered the lives of many others.
Throughout the day’s sentencing, Spraggins said quiet and motionless at the table, holding a slouched posture with his hands cuffed. It was only when Holder called on Spraggins to stand that he raised his head and maintained eye contact with the judge for the rest of the proceedings.
With Boller watching alongside his fellow officers from the 103 Precinct, as well as Spraggins’ girlfriend and young child, Holder issued the maximum sentence for all charges laid out against Spraggins.
Spraggins listened to his sentences calmly and was escorted out without a word.
“We are very pleased today of the judge’s sentence of 39 years to life for the attempted murder of Officer Boller that happened in April of ‘23,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said during a press conference after the sentencing. “The judge noted, rightfully so, that Mr. Spraggins not only wanted to get away from the officer…after he had already committed violence, he went in for a second shot. Were it not for the fact the magazine had fallen out, Officer Boller would have been dead and we’ve had a very different press conference today.”
During his final statement, Horn said the harsh sentencing policies for crimes against police officers was politically motivated. Horn pointed out that if the defendant had attempted to murder a child, Spraggins would only have been sentenced to 5 to 20 years imprisonment.
Katz disagreed with the assertion, and told reporters police officers risk their lives to protect civilians like Spraggins’ family every day.
“At the end of the day, it says a lot about society when someone goes after the very people charged with protecting us,” Katz said. “That is why those sentences are higher than they are for other individuals for the murder or the attempted murder of officers.”
Spraggins’ attorney could not be reached for a comment.