A Broward judge has shut down a last-minute effort by Jason Banegas to back out of the guilty plea he entered in the 2021 killing of Hollywood Police Officer Yandy Chirino, keeping the case barreling toward a mandatory life sentence under Florida law.
Judge Refuses To Let Banegas Walk Back Plea
Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra on Friday denied Banegas’s motion to withdraw his plea at a court hearing, according to CBS Miami. The ruling leaves in place the guilty plea Banegas entered in October and preserves the jury’s recommendation from the penalty phase.
Background: Sudden Guilty Plea And Penalty Phase
Banegas abruptly pleaded guilty in October as jury selection was getting underway, which effectively pulled accident and self-defense arguments off the table. A penalty-phase jury later turned down the state’s push for the death penalty and instead recommended a life sentence, according to NBC 6 South Florida.
What The Records Say Happened That Night
Court filings and the original arrest affidavit detail the Oct. 17, 2021 encounter in the Emerald Hills neighborhood, where officers responded to reports of a man tugging on car doors. The affidavit states that Banegas and Officer Chirino got into a struggle in the 4100 block of North Hills Drive, that a Glock handgun was recovered at the scene, and that Chirino was later pronounced dead at Memorial Regional Hospital, according to the Broward County arrest affidavit.
Defense Cries Coercion As Judge Pushes Case Toward Sentencing
Defense lawyers told the court that Banegas later wrote he had been “coerced” into pleading guilty and that he feared his family would be targeted for deportation if he refused, according to their argument. Prosecutors countered that the move was a tactical ploy after jurors spared Banegas the death penalty, and urged the court not to reward it. Judge Kollra kept the plea in place and rescheduled sentencing from February to April 8, South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
Officer Chirino’s Death And Community Fallout
Officer Yandy Chirino, 28, was shot while responding to a suspicious-person call in Emerald Hills, a killing that sent shock waves through the Hollywood Police Department and across Broward County. Hollywood Police Chief Jeff Devlin and other officials said the department would continue to stand with Chirino’s family, as previously reported by NBC 6 South Florida…