FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A Broward jury decided to give a convicted police killer life in prison without parole after deliberating for just a few hours on Monday.
Twenty-two-year-old Jason Banegas sat with a straight face and shook his head toward his defense attorney after he learned the jury had spared him of the death penalty.
“Jason Banegas will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. So say we all this 15th day of December 2025, Fort Lauderdale, Florida,” said the foreperson.
7News cameras captured the families of the victim and defendant walking out of the courtroom speechless after the verdict was read.
After the verdict was read, Lien Lafargue, Banegas’ defense attorney, said she’s glad jurors spared his life.
“I think I didn’t know if I had said everything that I needed to say, but I’m thankful that I was able to save his life,” she said.
The death penalty phase lasted a little over a week as jurors decided the fate of Banegas who pled guilty to shooting and killing an on-duty Hollywood Police officer four years ago.
At the time, 28-year-old Officer Yandy Chirino was responding to reports of a suspicious person near North Hills Drive in Hollywood when he spotted then-18-year-old Banegas. The two of them struggled before Banegas shot Chirino twice in the face.
Earlier on Monday, both the prosecution and the defense presented their closing arguments at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.
Prosecutors said that Banegas shot the Chirino, 28, 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.
“The solution to not being considered a monster is not breaking into cars with a gun, it’s not shooting a police officer in the line of duty and taking his life,” prosecutor Stephen Zaccor said during his closing arguments.
The defense told jurors that life in prison without the opportunity or the possibility of parole should be the fair and just verdict here as Banegas was only 18 when he committed the crime.
“The death penalty that they are asking you to command of somebody that was a child at the time of the offense,” said Lafargue. “The problem is that he didn’t have a hero. But you, each and every one of you can be heroes.”
Hollywood Police Chief Jeffrey Devlin appeared in the courtroom multiple days to witness the hearing, but after the verdict he also walked away without providing comment.
The judge will return in February to formally sentence Banegas.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.