FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.
Brendan Banfield stood there, emotionless, as he listened to his fate being sealed. He will spend the rest of his life in prison, barring a successful appeal.
It took a three-week trial and less than nine hours of deliberations for a jury to convict the former federal agent of stabbing and killing his wife, Christine, and shooting and killing an innocent stranger, Joe Ryan.
RELATED | Brendan Banfield faces life sentence after guilty verdict in wife’s murder
Brendan Banfield, a former investigator with the Internal Revenue Service, orchestrated the murder plot with Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the au pair with whom he was having an affair. The sinister scheme involved the two creating a profile on a fetish website to lure Ryan to the home, so Brendan Banfield could frame Ryan for Christine Banfield’s murder.
Minutes after the guilty verdicts reverberated off the walls inside the fifth-floor Fairfax County courtroom, prosecutors did not hold back in their characterization of the case.
Watch the guilty verdict being read below:
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“It’s monstrous. That’s really what it is. It’s monstrous,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said Monday. “I’ve been doing this job for a while, and I can tell you this defendant stood out to me, highest above all of the murder cases that we’ve done in my six years here.”
The jury heard testimony from witness after witness, 34 in total, paint a picture of what actually happened inside the Banfield family’s Fairfax County home on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023.
Of the dozens of witnesses, two in particular captured the courtroom’s attention: Banfield, himself, and Peres Magalhaes.
The former lovers and co-conspirators found themselves on opposing ends of the witness stand.
Before the trial, the au pair agreed to a plea deal: plead guilty to the lesser manslaughter charge to get less jail time, in exchange for testifying against Banfield.
On day one of testimony, she walked the jury through the details of the catfishing plan, the choreography of the killings, and the moment she saw Brendan Banfield stab Christine Banfield.
“He got on top of her, and that’s when I first saw him stab her with a knife,” Peres Magalhaes said on the stand.
The prosecutor asked the former au pair to clarify.
“Where in her body was he stabbing her?”
“Her neck,” Peres Magalhaes responded.
When Banfield’s lawyer had his turn at questions, he tried challenging her credibility by having her read letters she sent from jail to her family in Brazil.
In one particular letter, Peres Magalhaes claimed Netflix had offered her $10,000 for the exclusive rights to her story.
“I want a higher amount, especially since my whole life will be exposed to everyone, right? And they’re going to be making a lot of money off of it. We deserve something,” Peres Magalhaes said, as she read from her letter.
This passage led to the following exchange between Banfield’s lawyer and Peres Magalhaes:
Banfield’s lawyer: “You were charged with murder because you shot someone. Am I wrong?”
Peres Magalhaes: “No, you’re not.”
Banfield’s lawyer: “And so, why would you deserve something because of that?”
Peres Magalhaes: “Not because of that. I didn’t say I deserve something because of what I did.”
John Fishwick is a former federal prosecutor who served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, but is now a defense attorney and the current owner of the Fishwick & Associates law firm. He said the au pair’s testimony would likely be the most important factor in the jury’s decision.
“Well, ultimately, they’ve got to completely believe most of her testimony if they’re going to convict Mr. Banfield. After all, she’s the only eyewitness to the murder,” Fishwick said. “She’s, obviously, ground zero in this case. Juliana Peres Magalhaes, I think, is the most critical witness. I think her testimony was very powerful. When she came in there and testified, I thought it was very believable testimony that, sadly, she witnessed the murder of two individuals – Christine Banfield and Mr. Ryan – at the hands of Mr. Banfield. I think the prosecution did a good job of corroborating her.”
Peres Magalhaes’ testimony was not alone in providing shocking revelations.
A crime scene photographer detailed his return trip to the Banfield home just eight months after the killings. When he went back to take pictures as part of a warrant, he found Peres Magalhaes moved her clothing, including lingerie, into the same primary bedroom closet where Banfield kept his clothes. He also snapped photos showing pictures of Brendan and Christine Banfield were taken down and replaced with pictures of Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhaes on the mantle and bedside tables next to where Christine was stabbed to death.
The trial took a dramatic turn when Brendan Banfield took the stand in his own defense, a rare move.
He admitted his wife knew about at least two other affairs, though he did not think she knew about his tryst with Peres Magalhaes.
On day two of his testimony, he walked the jury through his version of events.
“It appeared [Ryan] did a very forceful stab towards Christine,” Banfield said. “Christine told me that she was bleeding out and that she was sorry and she loved me.”
The prosecution focused its questions on possible inconsistencies in his story.
“When did he stab her those other five times?” Jenna Sands, the case’s lead prosecutor, asked.
“The knife is inside of her hair. I can’t tell the movement. I can’t tell how that is,” Banfield responded.
The prosecution’s next line of questioning dug up another previously unknown fact.
Sands: “One of those affairs is with a woman named Danielle, who you met on a fetish site searching for sugar babies, is that correct?”
Banfield: “I would not call it a fetish site.”
Sands: “What would you call it?”
Banfield: “An arranged relationship.”
After the trial, Sands said she was surprised Banfield opted to testify.
“Having been a defense attorney for years, I think I would have counseled against him taking the stand,” Sands said. “I think everyone has commented what was so obvious: that he was not truthful, that he was cold, that he behaved oddly in response to questions that should have elicited emotion, that he never spoke of himself as Christine’s husband, that he didn’t speak lovingly of his wife.”
Watch prosecutors speak after the verdict below:
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Banfield’s sentencing takes place May 8, but that’s merely a formality because life imprisonment without parole is the mandatory punishment for aggravated murder in Virginia.
However, Peres Magalhaes’ sentencing could be the source of intrigue.
For her cooperation, the prosecution is recommending time served, meaning she would walk free after having spent the past two-plus years in jail.
However, the judge could still sentence her to the max of 10 years in prison. In either situation, she will be deported back to Brazil.
“The agreement that she entered into will, hopefully, allow the judge to pass judgment on her in a way that is measurable. It will certainly never account for the lives she was responsible for taking, but I think the amount of time she will serve will be determined by Judge Azcarate, and I’m sure it will be appropriate,” Sands said Monday.
In the meantime, prosecutors are also thinking about the victims in this case.
The Banfields’ young daughter, who was only 4-years-old at the time of the murders, is now without a mother, while her father will remain behind bars for the remainder of his life.
“I know that it is a very, very emotional day. I imagine maybe we’ll be speaking again in the future, but I hope this verdict gives them some sense of peace and puts them somewhere on the path of healing,” Descano said. “God, I mean, what do you say to a child in that situation. I don’t know if I have a message for her, but I have hope for her. I have a hope that she spends the rest of her life with people who love her, and know there were people in this world who love her.”
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