{"id":75470,"date":"2025-12-08T12:55:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/75470\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T12:55:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:55:06","slug":"defense-to-deliver-its-case-during-penalty-phase-for-hollywood-cop-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/75470\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense to deliver its case during penalty phase for Hollywood cop killer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  \u2014 The penalty phase for the man who admitted to killing a Hollywood police officer in 2021 continues Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The defense for Jason Banegas is expected to deliver its case as Banegas faces the possibility of the death penalty. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Banegas pleaded guilty to fatally shooting Officer Yandy Chirino, 28, on Oct. 17, 2021, as Chirino responded to a call about a suspicious person in the 4000 block of North Hills Drive checking for unlocked cars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cMoments that were once full of joy \u2014 birthdays, holidays, even simple family dinners \u2014 now come with a heaviness that overshadows everything,\u201d a letter written by Chirino\u2019s sister, which was read in court last week, stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Banegas was only 18 years old at the time of the shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He\u2019s already pled guilty, but now the jury will decide whether he gets the death penalty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">On Friday, Chirino\u2019s mother, father and sister were too overcome with emotion to speak in court, so<a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2025\/12\/04\/slain-hollywood-officers-family-gives-emotional-statements-during-killers-death-penalty-phase\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2025\/12\/04\/slain-hollywood-officers-family-gives-emotional-statements-during-killers-death-penalty-phase\/\"> their letters were read aloud.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cMy brother, my little angel, was one of the most generous and kind-hearted people I have ever known,\u201d the letter from his sister read. \u201cHe had an ability to see the best in everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Chirino\u2019s sister described a young officer who tried to \u201clive a great story,\u201d and a loss so deep, she says, it still feels unreal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWhat happened to my brother did not just end his life &#8212; it fractured ours,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The court also heard from Chirino\u2019s girlfriend of two years, Chelsey Howell, who opened up about the trauma she\u2019s carried since that night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe emotional trauma of the night of October 17th is something that will play in my mind for the rest of my life,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 The penalty phase for the man who admitted to killing a Hollywood police officer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-75470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}