Overview
- Defense attorneys opened their case Monday, arguing for life without parole and previewing witnesses on Jason Banegas’s upbringing and mental health.
- A Broward County jury is deciding between life in prison and the death penalty in the sentencing phase.
- Banegas pleaded guilty to first-degree murder; he was 18 at the time of the 2021 killing and is now 22.
- Florida law requires at least nine of 12 jurors to recommend death before a judge can impose it, with life without parole as the only alternative.
- Testimony continued Monday with more expected this week, and the judge told jurors to anticipate closing arguments early next week.