A decide slammed ex-IRS particular agent Brendan Banfield as pure “evil” as she sentenced him to life behind bars with out parole Friday for killing his spouse and a sex-seeking stranger in a twisted plot he cooked up along with his Brazilian au pair lover.
The 40-year-old former fed stared forward stoically as Chief Decide Penney Azcarate handed down the sentence — after he gave a weird assertion whining that he’s “disillusioned within the authorized system” and insisting he’s “not accountable” for the homicide.
“The extent of cruelty, calculation and inhumanity on this case displays one thing far deeper than anger or impulse, it displays evil,” Azcarate stated, including he’s proven no regret. “You continue to suppose you’re the smartest particular person within the room.”
Banfield was convicted by a jury in Fairfax, Virginia in February of stabbing his 37-year-old spouse Christine and capturing Joseph Ryan, 38.
Ryan was lured to the couple’s Herndon residence beneath the false pretense of a sexual encounter with the spouse as a part of a convoluted frame-job, jurors heard on the sordid three-week trial.
Christine’s heartbroken sister, Danielle Hawker, testified Friday concerning the gut-wrenching grief she suffered over her beloved one’s tragic dying — calling it a “soul-crushing loss.”
“I envisioned Christine’s worry, her terror and wished I used to be there to take her place. I now not had a sister. I used to be now not a sister,” she stated.
“Some days I really feel like I’m residing with a ticking time bomb ready for it to blow up, [with] worry and nervousness taking up my thoughts,” she stated.
Hawker then referred to as out Banfield for lies he’d instructed about her sister over the course of the investigation and trial.
“He tried to smear her by outright lies and sufferer blaming,” she stated, including that Christine was a loving and devoted nurse. “As Christine sister, I didn’t simply lose her. I needed to sit and take heed to a model of her that didn’t exist.
On the sentencing listening to, Ryan’s mom, Deirdre Fisher, additionally gave a tearful assertion, describing the second a police officer notified her about her son’s dying.
“When he gave me the horrible information that my child had been murdered… I let loose a primal scream,” she stated.
“I used to be the final particular person he referred to as the evening earlier than he was brutally murdered,” she stated. “It was the final time I received to listen to the phrase ‘mother.’”
She stated Ryan was a caring particular person, regardless of protection attorneys’ makes an attempt to border him as “an intruder” and “a fetish man.”
“Joe was extraordinarily caring. He lived along with his grandmother and was devoted to her well being and her well-being,” she stated. “Joe was a man who believed in combating for the underdog and even precise uncared for canines.”
Earlier than his sentencing, Banfield continued to insist that he’s harmless — and that he’s the true sufferer.
“I’m tremendously disillusioned within the authorized system,” Banfield moaned. “My proper to defend my household has been taken away.”
“I’m being sentenced on an unimaginable set of circumstances,” he stated. “I’m not chargeable for her dying. This isn’t a knife I ever carried in my hand and I by no means stabbed her.”
Juliana Peres Magalhães — the 25-year-old nanny-turned-mistress — was additionally sentenced in February to 10 years in jail after pleading responsible for her position within the murders.
Each Magalhães and Banfield testified at trial providing conflicting accounts to the jury about how the Feb. 24, 2023 slayings went down.
Magalhães — the nanny of the Banfield’s 4-year-old daughter — claimed that simply months after she began sleeping together with her married employer the duo got here up with a plan to off Christine so that they could possibly be collectively.
The dishonest pair began a bogus fetish account posing as Christine and arranging for Ryan to assist Christine reside out her supposed fantasy to be raped, the nanny instructed the jury.
So Ryan went to the Banfield residence armed with a knife as instructed, however the spouse — who labored as a nurse for sexual assault victims — didn’t know what was in retailer for her, the au pair claimed.
On the identical time, Magalhães waited in a automotive exterior the house with the daughter, and referred to as Banfield to alert him that somebody was breaking into the home — all a part of the scheme to pin all the things on Ryan, the nanny alleged.
The husband rushed residence and went inside with the nanny — the pair leaving the little woman within the basement whereas the ugly scene unfolded above, the sitter claimed.
Banfield shot Ryan along with his service weapon to make it seem as if he valiantly saved her from being raped. He then stabbed the spouse a number of occasions within the neck and doctored the crime scene so it might seem as if Ryan attacked her, Magalhães claimed.
When Banfield took the witness stand to testify in his personal protection, he admitted to dishonest and stated it wasn’t his first time having an affair. He additionally claimed Christine had slept with different males and even had a BDSM fetish.
He additionally confessed to the jury that he shot Ryan however maintained it was to defend his spouse and never a ruse to make Ryan the autumn man.
Banfield’s prison protection legal professional, John Carroll, instructed jurors to not belief Magalhães’ testimony since she was motivated to flip to get a great plea deal and to earn a living off of promoting the rights to the salacious story for a documentary.
“Her total story has been purchased and paid for,” Carroll alleged.
Prosecutor Jenna Sands instructed the jury Banfield fell in love with Magalhães and “he was afraid of dropping her.
“He wanted to eliminate his spouse so that they could possibly be collectively, so they might get married, so they might have youngsters collectively.”
Banfield has maintained his innocence. He was convicted on two counts of aggravated homicide, as soon as depend of kid endangerment for leaving his daughter in the course of the crime and one depend of use of a firearm within the fee of a felony.
The aggravated homicide convictions carry a penalty of obligatory life in jail.
