A Virginia man convicted of murdering his spouse and one other man in an elaborate scheme involving a fetish web site and an au pair was sentenced on Friday to life in jail with out parole.
The husband, Brendan Banfield of Herndon, Va., a former agent for the legal division of the Inner Income Service, was found guilty on Feb. 2 of two counts of aggravated homicide, considered one of utilizing a firearm in fee of a felony and considered one of little one endangerment.
In Virginia, the place the killings occurred in 2023, the one punishment for aggravated homicide is life in jail. Choose Penney Azcarate of the Circuit Courtroom in Fairfax County stated that life was “a harsh sentence, however on this case, it’s a justified one.”
“The extent of cruelty, calculation and inhumanity on this case displays one thing far deeper than anger or impulse,” she added. “It displays evil.”
Mr. Banfield’s former lover, Juliana Peres Magalhães, an au pair from Brazil, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 for her position within the killings, and this February, the identical choose sentenced her to 10 years in jail, the utmost for manslaughter, going effectively past the suggestions made by each prosecutors and the protection legal professionals.
Earlier than Friday’s sentence was learn, Mr. Banfield addressed the court docket to assert his innocence, pointing to proof and knowledgeable testimony that he argued had been unfairly disregarded. “I used to be discovered responsible of a criminal offense that I didn’t commit,” he stated, including that he liked his spouse, Christine Banfield.
Prosecutors stated that they anticipated Mr. Banfield to attraction, and he has 30 days to take action. His lawyer through the trial, John Carroll, stated he’ll not symbolize him.
The trial over the murders of Ms. Banfield, who was stabbed, and Joseph Ryan, who was shot, captured worldwide consideration.
Prosecutors stated that Mr. Banfield had plotted to lure Mr. Ryan to the household’s residence by posing as Ms. Banfield on a fetish web site, with Ms. Magalhães’s help. Mr. Ryan, 38, was led to assume he was being invited to enact a violent sexual role-play state of affairs that Ms. Banfield, 37, had purportedly proposed.
Prosecutors stated Mr. Banfield, 41, and Ms. Magalhães, 26, organized for Mr. Ryan to go to the house whereas Ms. Banfield was alone.
After Mr. Ryan entered the bed room the place Ms. Banfield was, prosecutors stated, Mr. Banfield adopted him into the home, shot him with a pistol after which stabbed Ms. Banfield, staging the scene to seem as if he had come to his spouse’s support.
The Banfields’ daughter, who was unhurt, was within the basement when the killings occurred. She was 4 on the time.
Ms. Magalhães, who labored as an au pair for the household and commenced an affair with Mr. Banfield in 2022, testified towards him in January. In her responsible plea, she stated that she had shot Mr. Ryan after Mr. Banfield did, however that Mr. Banfield had masterminded the killings.
She added that Mr. Banfield had ready by scouring his neighborhood for doorbell cameras, taking the au pair to a capturing vary and putting in soundproof home windows in his residence.
On the day of the killings, she stated, she sat in a parked automotive, with Mr. and Ms. Banfield’s daughter watching a tv present within the again seat. She watched as Mr. Ryan arrived on the Banfield residence. As instructed, Ms. Magalhães stated, she then referred to as Mr. Banfield, who was a brief drive away.
In his personal testimony in late January, Mr. Banfield stated that these claims had been “completely loopy.” His legal professionals stated that Ms. Magalhães had made a deal below strain and prosecutors used her.
On Friday, earlier than the sentence was learn, kinfolk of Ms. Banfield and Mr. Ryan spoke about their grief in court docket.
Deirdre Fisher, Mr. Ryan’s mom, appeared by way of video name. “Joe wasn’t the disposable caricature he was made out to be,” she stated. “He had a face, he had a reputation, he had a life.”
Danielle Hocker, Ms. Banfield’s sister, stated that justice would do nothing to ease her grief. “I didn’t really know Brendan in any respect,” she added. “I don’t imagine anybody did; not household, not buddies and definitely not Christine.”
Steve Descano, the commonwealth’s legal professional for Fairfax County, stated after the sentencing that he “wasn’t stunned” by Mr. Banfield’s defiant assertion of innocence.
“He thought he might commit the right crime,” Mr. Descano stated. “He thought he was smarter than everybody else.”
