Brendan Banfield is set to be sentenced Friday as the Fairfax County chief judge denied a motion to set aside his convictions in the so-called ‘au pair affair’ murders.
Banfield faces life in prison with no chance of parole after being convicted in February of two counts of aggravated murder in the killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, and another man, Joseph Ryan, in 2023.
Defense attorney John Carroll told Chief Judge Penney Azcarate that Fairfax County prosecutors made three errors during Banfield’s prosecution, and that those errors influenced the jury’s decision to convict Banfield.
Banfield had conspired with the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he was having an affair. Peres Magalhães received a 10-year-sentence for her role in the crimes, as part of a plea arrangement.
In a brief hearing Thursday, Carroll argued prosecutors had used Banfield’s unwillingness to speak with police before his arrest against him in trial. Carroll said that violated Banfield’s constitutional right to due process.
Another issue raised by the defense was that some prosecution witnesses hadn’t been declared before trial and presented an unfair surprise. The judge said prosecutors followed the rules.
And, in the third issue presented, the defense said Peres Magalhães lied on the stand, when she answered “I don’t know” during the defense’s cross-examination, after testifying for the prosecution against her former lover.
Azcarate said Peres Magalhães’s answers were appropriate, and that there was no evidence that she was attempting to deceive the jury.
By denying the defense motion to dismiss the convictions, Azcarate is expected to sentence Banfield to life in prison with no chance of parole on Friday. Aggravated murder became Virginia’s most serious offense, after former Gov. Ralph Northam abolished the death penalty in 2021.
Prosecutors intend to have three witnesses provide victim impact sentences before Azcarate imposes Banfield’s sentence.
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