diff --git a/datafusion/physical-plan/src/windows/mod.rs b/datafusion/physical-plan/src/windows/mod.rs
index f938f4410a99..63f4ffcfaacc 100644
--- a/datafusion/physical-plan/src/windows/mod.rs
+++ b/datafusion/physical-plan/src/windows/mod.rs
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ use crate::{
 
 use arrow::datatypes::Schema;
 use arrow_schema::{DataType, Field, SchemaRef};
-use datafusion_common::{exec_err, DataFusionError, Result, ScalarValue};
+use datafusion_common::{
+    exec_datafusion_err, exec_err, DataFusionError, Result, ScalarValue,
+};
 use datafusion_expr::{
     BuiltInWindowFunction, PartitionEvaluator, WindowFrame, WindowFunctionDefinition,
     WindowUDF,
@@ -284,7 +286,9 @@ fn create_built_in_window_expr(
                 args[1]
                     .as_any()
                     .downcast_ref::<Literal>()
-                    .unwrap()
+                    .ok_or_else(|| {
+                        exec_datafusion_err!("Expected a signed integer literal for the second argument of nth_value, got {}", args[1])
+                    })?
                     .value()
                     .clone(),
             )?;
diff --git a/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/window.slt b/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/window.slt
index 78055f8c1c11..5bf5cf83284f 100644
--- a/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/window.slt
+++ b/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/window.slt
@@ -4861,3 +4861,16 @@ select a, row_number(a) over (order by b) as rn from t;
 
 statement ok
 drop table t;
+
+statement ok
+DROP TABLE t1;
+
+# https://github.com/apache/datafusion/issues/12073
+statement ok
+CREATE TABLE t1(v1 BIGINT);
+
+query error DataFusion error: Execution error: Expected a signed integer literal for the second argument of nth_value, got v1@0
+SELECT NTH_VALUE('+Inf'::Double, v1) OVER (PARTITION BY v1) FROM t1;
+
+statement ok
+DROP TABLE t1;
\ No newline at end of file