HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (Court TV) — A Florida jury spared the life of a man who pleaded guilty to murdering a police officer, meaning he will spend the rest of his life in jail.
Jason Banegas sits in court ahead of the verdict being read on Dec. 15, 2025. (Court TV)
In October, 22-year-old Jason Banegas pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the death of Hollywood Police Officer Yandy Chirino. He was 18 years old when Chirino was shot and killed as he struggled with Banegas over a gun. Banegas was arrested three weeks later and has been jailed without bond since.
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During Banegas’ penalty phase, the jury heard emotional victim impact evidence and testimony about the shooting. Chirino was responding to a call of a suspect on a bicycle breaking into cars in the Emerald Hills neighborhood of Hollywood on October 17, 2021, when he encountered Banegas.
A fellow officer testified he saw Chirino and Banegas “wrestling” on the ground and Chirino fighting for his life. “He was pointing at his face,” Det. Manuel Rodriguez-Blevins said, fighting back tears. “I saw that they were tussling over something, but didn’t realize what it was until I saw the barrel.”
In their closing argument, prosecutors described the crime as “heinous and atrocious,” describing Chirino as suffering “mental torture” in the moments before his death.
Banegas’ attorney tried to paint a sympathetic portrait of the defendant in his closing argument before the jury, emphasizing his difficult childhood and the abuse and neglect he suffered at the hands of his mother.
Banegas will be formally sentenced on Feb. 18.
