FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Wednesday marked another emotional day in court in the penalty phase for the man who pleaded guilty to killing a Hollywood police officer over four years ago.
A pre-recorded video was played in court of his mother’s emotional testimony, pleading with the judge and jury to spare her son’s life.
“Because what happened was an accident,” Ingrid Banegas said. “My son has never been inhuman. He has always been a very humble person. And I ask the judge to please spare his life.”
Jason Banegas, 22, has already pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for fatally shooting Hollywood police Officer Yandy Chirino in October 2021.
Now, a jury is deciding whether he’ll be executed or get life in prison. The defense team needs to convince at least five of the 12 jurors that Banegas deserves to live.
Chirino was just 28 years old when he was killed while responding to a call about a suspicious person in the 4000 block of North Hills Drive.
Ring camera footage shows Banegas, then 18, on his bike, checking for unlocked car doors.
Police say Banegas shot Chirino twice in the face while resisting arrest, killing him.
On Tuesday, Dr. Micah Johnson, a trauma and behavioral specialist, told the story of Banegas’s hard home life, including having a father who was an alleged drug dealer and sex trafficker who disappeared when he was young.
Johnson said Banegas’ mother was trafficked to the U.S. as a young girl and often left Banegas alone while growing up in a tough neighborhood in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood.
Johnson said Banegas also lost friends to gun violence and had drug and mental health problems.
He argued Banegas had all the risk factors to fall into crime and violence.
“This is obviously a broken home, but this is an extreme type of broken home,” Johnson said. “This is a story of what happens to the child of a young girl who was sex trafficked. That family dynamic could have its own history, but it also shapes your identity, how you perceive yourself, your mental health.”
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