‘Zucchini Bandit’ Could Get Life Term

New York’s “Zucchini Bandit” will have plenty of time to stew.

A Queens jury Monday convicted Carlos Diaz for the robbery of a waiter who, police said, he held up by using a zucchini and pretending it was a gun. The theft netted $20 and a Swiss Army watch.

As a repeat felon, Diaz, 29, faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced April 7.

Diaz was convicted after being prosecuted for the same crime four times, an event said by lawyers in the courthouse to be unprecedented. Two of the first three trials ended with hung juries, and one was declared a mistrial.

Unlike his predecessors - one previous prosecutor entered a photograph of the zucchini into evidence in an earlier trial - prosecutor Julian Wise never mentioned the vegetable to the jury. “It wasn’t an issue. This case is not about a zucchini bandit. This case is about a robber.”