Brendan Banfield was sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole for the 2023 murders of his wife, Christine Banfield, and another man, Joseph Ryan. Banfield was found guilty in February on two counts of aggravated murder.
Banfield’s defense had filed a motion to dismiss his convictions, which Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate denied, WTOP reported.
Prosecutors in Banfield’s trial argued that he and the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, were having an affair and the two came up with a plan to “get rid of” Christine. The plan included setting up a fake account on a sexual fetish website in Christine’s name to lure Ryan to the home. They then shot Ryan and Banfield stabbed his wife, staging the scene to make it look like Ryan was an intruder who stabbed Christine.
In addition to the aggravated murder charges, Banfield was also convicted of child endangerment because the couple’s 4-year-old child was in the home at the time of the killings.
Magalhães testified against Banfield during the trial, supporting the prosecution’s claims that Banfield plotted to kill Christine.
Magalhães was charged with manslaughter for the death of Joseph Ryan. Judge Azcarate gave her a sentence of 10 years with two years suspended, the maximum possible charge for manslaughter in Virginia. This was a rejection of an agreement that Magalhães entered into with her attorney and prosecutors, which aimed to end her time in jail at the time of the sentencing.
Feature image of Brendan Banfield, AP Photo/Tom Brenner
