The career criminal accused of fatally shooting a New York Police Department officer in the stomach during a routine traffic stop pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Tuesday morning, more than a month after the incident.

Guy Rivera, 34, was hospitalized after he allegedly inflicted a mortal wound on Officer Jonathan Diller, 31, and fellow officers returned fire. He was still wearing a brace on his wrist when he arrived handcuffed in court and had visible scars on his face. He had a buzzed head and goatee and was wearing a white dress shirt and pink tie.

Prosecutors told Judge Michael Aloise that Rivera admitted to police at the hospital that he had a shank hidden within his body. They also asked the judge to remove legal aid counsel from the defense, alleging a conflict of interest involving potential witnesses in the case who had also been represented by legal aid in matters that were sealed by the court.

Prosecutors also notified Judge Aloise that they would seek a sentence for Rivera under the state’s “persistent felony offender” rules due to his extensive criminal history if convicted.

NYPD JONATHAN DILLER SHOOTING: SUSPECT GUY RIVERA CHARGED WITH MURDER, ATTEMPTED MURDER IN ATTACK ON OFFICERS

On March 25, a group of NYPD officers including Diller approached Rivera and his friend Lindy Jones, another ex-con, in an illegally parked car in Far Rockaway, New York. 

The officers suspected he might have been carrying an illegal handgun after witnessing him walk out of a store with a gun-shaped object in his front pocket, prosecutors revealed Tuesday.

Rivera allegedly refused the officers’ request to open the car window and instead pulled the gun, shot Diller beneath his vest and took aim at NYPD Sgt. Sasha Rosen.

The two wrestled for control of the gun, and it jammed when Rivera allegedly squeezed the trigger again.

JONATHAN DILLER SHOOTING: NYPD SERGEANTS’ UNION TELLS ANTI-POLICE DEMOCRATS TO STAY AWAY FROM FUNERAL

NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller is survived by his wife and their nearly 1-year-old son. (NYPD)

Rivera suffered a gunshot wound of his own during the struggle and was taken to the hospital.

Police recovered another gun from Jones’ glove box, with the serial number scratched off, prosecutors said. He faces felony firearms charges.

Both men have lengthy rap sheets and prior felony convictions. One has pending felony charges, and both obtained firearms they could not legally own.

NYPD OFFICER SHOT, KILLED DURING CAR STOP IN QUEENS BY SUSPECT WITH MULTIPLE PRIOR ARRESTS: POLICE

Murder suspect and ex-con Guy Rivera appears for his arraignment in a Queens, New York, courtroom on Tuesday, May 7. Rivera is charged with the murder of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller and attempted murder of his partner, Sgt. Sasha Rosen. (Fox News)

Rivera has had 21 prior arrests, nine of them for felonies, and he recently got off parole.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz previously said Rivera’s arraignment would happen as soon as he was medically cleared.

“We are grateful that the grand jury returned serious charges against the defendant,” she said Tuesday. “Our thoughts are with Detective Diller’s family, friends and colleagues as they continue to grieve. We will seek justice for him.”

Jones, 41, was convicted of attempted murder in 2002, served time in prison and was somehow out on the streets despite a pending felony firearms case from last year, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

Ex-con Lindy Jones appears in a Queens, New York, courtroom following the shooting death of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller. A passenger in Jones’ car, Guy Rivera, is accused of opening fire on the officer during a traffic stop. (Pool via Richard Harbus for Daily Mail)

Diller died at Jamaica Hospital in Queens.

He had a wife and a 1-year-old son.

News of his death prompted a national outcry that grew larger after details about the suspects’ criminal backgrounds emerged.

NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, 31, was the father of a 1-year-old boy. A violent ex-con has been accused of fatally shooting him during a stop. (Tunnel to Towers Foundation)

“Detective Diller was shot and killed while trying to rid our streets of illegal weapons, a lawless act that was an affront to a civilized society,” Katz said in a statement Tuesday. 

Former President Trump attended his wake on Long Island as President Biden hosted wealthy donors for a fundraising gala in nearby Manhattan.

Guy Rivera, an ex-con suspected of fatally shooting NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, appears in a mugshot. (NYPD)

Rivera is being held without bail. He could face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. The judge set his next hearing for July 22.

Jones faces up to 30 years in prison on the gun charge. He returns to court on June 12.

Fox News’ Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.

BOSTON – As artificial intelligence begins to take hold in industries across the nation, researchers at Harvard University are hoping to look into its application through their new program called the Digital Data Design Institute (D3). 

During a conference on Tuesday, that event took a musical turn when three-time Grammy Award-winning mixing engineer Derek Ali took the stage to create a song for them in 60 seconds using AI and a few simple questions.

Can AI help the creative process?  

“Creators are able to be more efficient as they are creating,” said Ali, “It’s a little bit of a push and pull as we are trying to figure out the legalities.”

“We are thinking about its application and to all types workers around the world,” says Karim Lakhani, founder of D^3, “We should not be passive receivers of what this does to us, but be active in both shaping its direction and the rate by which it improves.”

When it comes to music, the growth rate of AI matters – especially if anyone can flood the market with quickly generated music that takes little effort to create.

“The feeling that someone gets from being in the studio, right? The imperfections of human creation – all these things are completely eliminated now,” said Ali, a mixer who has worked with artists like Kendrick Lamar. “If the entry point to knowing how to create a song is as simple as typing a prompt with no creativity, then what does that mean for people who are looking for inspiration through music?”

Harnessing the power of AI  

Ali has created a music mixing platform called EngineEars. He is actively working on ways to incorporate AI into the program or his own workflow. It’s about striking a balance between creativity and automation.

“We are looking to harness the power of AI to help creators around the world,” said Ali. “Being able to have something that can monitor sound coming out of your master channels and give you suggestions on what to tweak. When it comes to removing dry air between recordings, that can take hours.”

“Eliminating busy work from the process of the creative can reduce friction,” said Jonathan Wyner, a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Potential pitfalls of AI  

Wyner is hosting an AI symposium at Berklee in June. He is eager to see the creative capabilities of AI but wary of it saturating the music market with too much music or with fakes.

“It creates new possibilities when you can sing into a machine, and, all of a sudden, your voice is transformed into a saxophone. There could there be more Beatles records, more David Bowie records,” said Wyner. “If litigation and legislation doesn’t get ahead of this, it going to be really easy for deep fakes to happen. With mimicry, you lose control of your voice.”

This is where D3 steps in to try to get ahead of the questions and to determine how best to proceed as a society and a workforce.

“We as a culture have to get ready for an understanding of how those changes will be and collectively respond to them,” said Lakhani.