Once was a promising actor was Lillo Brancato who turned into a junkie and hit rock bottom on December 10, 2005, when an off-duty police officer was killed in a burglary.

In Monday’s opening statements  jurors were asked to decide whether Brancato was a partner in crime with a man already convicted of shooting and killing the officer or merely a bystander.

Brancato was led into the courtroom in a neatly tailored gray suit and handcuffs.

Prosecutors claimed Brancato and Steven Armento tried to break into the Bronx apartment to swipe prescription drugs after a night of drinking at a strip club.

“In their effort to get drugs to satisfy their own desires, they took the life of a New York City police officer,” stated Assistant District Attorney Theresa Gottlieb.

Brancato’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, explained to the jury that his client was an addict who “ruined his life” with drugs and was “clearly strung out” at the time of the slaying.

He argued, however, that the true culprit was Armento, who was convicted of first-degree murder on October 30 and has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

“Lillo was there to satisfy his addiction, but he wasn’t there to do violence,” Tacopina explained. “Lillo didn’t try to hurt a single person that night.”

Brancato, 32, made his debut in 1993 in “A Bronx Tale” opposite Robert De Niro. He has appeared in more than a dozen other movies and played a doomed aspiring mobster in HBO’s “The Sopranos.”

Prosecutors were legally allowed to charge Brancato with second-degree murder in the death of Officer Daniel Enchautegui, because they say the killing occurred while both he and the actual shooter were committing a felony. If convicted of murder and burglary, he would face a possible life term.

Enchautegui, who lived next door to the apartment where prosecutors say Brancato and Armento were trying to steal drugs, grabbed his gun and came out to investigate. Armento shot the 28-year-old officer in the heart. Enchautegui allegedly fired back, wounding both men.

The case could turn on whether the jury believes Brancato knew Armento was carrying a loaded revolver. Prosecutors claimed Brancato’s drug dealer will testify that Armento had pulled the weapon on the dealer earlier in the night in front of Brancato.

Tacopina, however, branded the drug dealer a liar angling for leniency in his own legal troubles. He said Brancato was allegedly startled that his friend opened fire, and didn’t know the man firing back was a patrolman. 

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