FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – Attorneys in a Broward County court room are delivering their closing arguments in a case that will decide the fate of a 22-year-old man who shot and killed an on-duty Hollywood Police officer four years ago.
Monday morning, on the eighth day of the death penalty phase in the case against Jason Banegas, both the prosecution and the defense present their closing arguments at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.
Soon, the jury must decide whether Banegas will receive the death penalty or life in prison.
Banegas was 18 when, police said, he shot Officer Yandy Chirino in the face during a struggle on Oct. 17, 2021. Officers were responding to reports of a suspicious person near North Hills Drive in Hollywood.
Chirino was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital, where he later died. The 28-year-old had been with the Hollywood Police Department since 2017.
Prosecutors said that Banegas shot the officer twice. He knew that carrying a gun and committing crimes was wrong, prosecutors argued, and that he knew he was taking the life of another human being.
“He had a lousy childhood. His mother certainly was not going to win mother of the year awards. He came from a bad neighborhood,” prosecutor Stephen Zaccor said during his closing arguments. “Remember this: Mitigation neither excuses nor justifies the murder. And I didn’t even tell you that; the defense team told you that.”
Banegas pleaded guilty back in October as jury selection was underway for his trial. Prosecutors said Banegas changed his plea to guilty without a negotiated deal.
The defense said life in prison without the opportunity or the possibility of parole should be the fair and just verdict here.
Lien Lafargue, Banegas’ defense attorney, stated her case to the jury on Monday.
“Do we kill Jason Banegas? Must we kill Jason Banegas? Is that the only option that you have? Absolutely not. The law never requires you to kill,” she said.
7News cameras found the courtroom packed with family members and friends on both sides of the case.
Banegas was charged with first-degree murder, armed burglary, battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, grand theft of a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm.
The defense rested last Thursday after Banegas’ sister testified. The prosecution rested their case on Thursday, Dec. 4.
The jury will be sequestered once they begin deliberations.
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