Man who confessed to killing Hollywood cop can’t undo guilty plea, judge rules
Jason Banegas, who was 18 when he shot and killed a Hollywood police officer, will not be able to withdraw his guilty plea after he claimed his attorneys pressured him to change his plea, a judge ruled Friday afternoon.
Banegas, 23, said his attorneys influenced him to plead guilty by telling him his family would be targeted for deportation and he would be executed within five years, according to court records.
During jury selection in October 2025, Banegas abruptly pleaded guilty to fatally shooting Hollywood Police Officer Yandy Chirino, 28. The gunfire occurred during a scuffle in the Emerald Hills neighborhood on Oct. 17, 2021.
A 12-person jury voted to sentence Banegas to life in prison in December.
READ MORE: Man who confessed to killing Hollywood cop sentenced to life in prison
Chirino, a cop of four years, had confronted Banegas, who was on a bicycle breaking into cars, when Chirino tried to arrest him, prosecutors say.
Before denying the request, Broward Circuit Court Judge Ernest Kollra pointed to Banegas’ recorded jail calls, saying Banegas was looking for “another route to appeal.”
The judge also said he took Banegas’ spontaneous plea with more caution than usual, asking Banegas several times if he understood that he was changing his plea and if he was satisfied with his attorneys.
Why did Banegas want to undo plea?
Banegas indicated that he wanted to change his plea during his sentencing trial on Dec. 9. By that point, jurors had heard a few days of testimony related to Chirino’s murder.
During a hearing, which was held that same day and closed to the public, Banegas told Kollra he was “saying whatever my attorneys were telling me to say and doing whatever they were telling me to do.”
Banegas, court records show, also said his attorneys told him he would be executed within five years because the “governor is signing off on death warrants like it’s nothing.” Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on 19 executions of Florida Death Row inmates.
“This played a major factor in my decision-making as a means to avoid jeopardizing my life from being executed at all costs in such a short time span,” Banegas said during the Dec. 9 hearing.
Banegas didn’t take the stand during Friday’s hearing, although his sister Katherine Banegas testified. Katherine detailed conversations that she had with Banegas and his lawyers and said Banegas’ attorneys told her it was too late to withdraw the plea.
Katherine said she found out through ChatGPT that Banegas could withdraw his plea. Banegas’ attorneys, however, told her it was “not a good idea.”
In court on Friday, prosecutor Kristine Bradley said the effort to withdraw the plea was a “scheme” that Banegas concocted with his sister to find a way out of his impending life sentence.
Bradley played several excerpts of Banegas’ jail calls with Katherine during the hearing. In one call, Banegas told his sister that it was “really tough to make that decision” to plead guilty.
During his sentencing trial, prosecutors argued Banegas should be sent to Florida’s Death Row because he targeted Chirino — a police officer — when he shot and killed him. Defense attorneys urged jurors to spare Banegas because of his troubled upbringing, which was filled with abuse, neglect and violence.
From the moment of his arrest, Banegas confessed that he was breaking into cars — and told detectives that he shot Chirino in the face during a botched attempt to take his own life, according to court documents.
The officer was supposed to be off on the Sunday he was killed; Banegas had been recently released from a “high-risk” detention center.
Banegas will be formally sentenced on April 8.
