OF JUNKIES AND JURIES 

A strung-out Lillo Brancato was a bystander intent only on feeding a drug habit when his junkie friend murdered an off-duty cop, his lawyer said Tuesday in closing arguments. The Daily News has the story.

Defense attorney JosephTacopina provided the benign portrayal of "The Sopranos" actor before prosecutor Terry Gottlieb argued that Brancato's addiction triggered the fatal shooting.

Officer Daniel Enchautegui "was shot andkilled because Lillo Brancato wanted to get high," Gottlieb said in a90-minute summation. "And in order to do that, he had to commit aburglary.

"Officer Enchautegui went out to stop a burglary."

The two lawyers spun the same facts into strikingly different scenarios from the snowy December morning when Brancato's friend Steven Armento shot the 28-year-old cop.

A Bronx jury, beginning this morning, will determine which version rings true.