A man facing a life sentence after confessing to the murder of a Hollywood police officer will not be allowed to change his plea now that a jury rejected the death penalty, a Broward judge ruled Friday.
Jason Banegas, 23, pleaded guilty last year in a decision that even surprised Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra, who presided over the case. But after a penalty-phase trial ended with a jury recommending a life sentence instead of the death penalty, Banegas had a change of heart, writing to the judge that he never would have pleaded guilty had he not been “coerced” by his trial lawyers.
Defense lawyers Mitchell Polay and H. Dohn Williams argued the case before Kollra on Friday, saying Banegas wrongly believed his family would be targeted for deportation if he did not admit to killing Police Officer Yandy Chirino, 28, in Hollywood’s Emerald Hills neighborhood on Oct. 18, 2021. Banegas initially told police he was breaking into cars when he was confronted by the officer and that he shot him accidentally while trying to kill himself.
His guilty plea took accidental death and self-defense out of contention as defense arguments. Prosecutors criticized the motion vacate the plea as a cynical gambit to manipulate the legal system after the jury took the death penalty off the table.
Banegas’ sentencing hearing that was initially scheduled for February has been moved to April 8. Under Florida law, a life sentence is mandatory.
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