Days after a husband was charged in the double homicide of his wife and another man inside a Fairfax County house, their Brazilian au pair, who was also charged with shooting the man, is asking to get key evidence from the case thrown out.
A motion to suppress certain evidence was detailed in a lengthy hearing Thursday in Fairfax County Circuit Court before Judge Penney S. Azcarate.
Attorneys for 23-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhaes argued that on the day of the killings in February 2023, police essentially did not make it clear enough to Peres Magalhaes that she did not have to go to police headquarters or talk to detectives.
Peres Magalhaes’ defense attorneys showed police body camera footage of an officer’s interactions with her outside the home where 37-year-old Christine Banfield and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan were found dead inside.
Christine Banfield was stabbed to death, and Ryan was shot to death inside the home in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way.
At that time, Peres Magalhaes was not under arrest. When she asked the officer if she had to go to police headquarters, his response was, “It’s imperative for your safety.”
Prosecutors said there was no overt act of authority by police, and Peres Magalhaes got into a police cruiser voluntarily. Initially, according to court testimony, Peres Magalhaes and the Banfields’ 4-year-old daughter were taken to what’s called a “soft room,” where police questioned her for about 90 minutes. After that, Peres Magalhaes was taken to a police interrogation room and questioned for over seven hours.
Peres Magalhaes was not arrested and charged until 8 months later.
Attorneys representing Peres Magalhaes at the hearing Thursday said she was unlawfully seized, and evidence in the case — including her cellphone, Apple watch, clothing, photos and a hand swab taken that day — should be thrown out. They also argued that anything she told police should be excluded from trial.
Banfield was arrested and charged earlier this week with aggravated murder. A hearing was also held in his case on Thursday, where the same judge set a trial date of Feb. 3.
Banfield’s attorney, John Carroll, said he has not filed any motions in the case yet, and is expecting eight terabytes of discovery evidence from the Commonwealth Attorney’s office.
The judge will rule on the motions and make a decision about a request for cameras in the courtroom next Thursday.
Prosecutors have alleged that someone used Christine Banfield’s laptop to make an account on an adult fetish website. Ryan had responded to the profile and went to the home with the intention of having “rough sex” with Christine Banfield. Prosecutors haven’t said who they believe created the account.
Peres Magalhaes initially told detectives she saw Ryan holding a knife to the throat of Christine Banfield, who was nude, inside the master bedroom.
Police said Brendan Banfield, a criminal investigative division agent for the IRS, shot Ryan near his right eyebrow with his IRS-issued service weapon. After shooting Ryan, Peres Magalhaes said Brendan Banfield told her to get a gun from a safe in the bathroom of the master bedroom. She then fired a shot at Ryan, which struck him in the chest, and “devastated his heart,” according to the medical examiner who testified at a December 2023 hearing.
WTOP Staff contributed to this report.
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