ZAP // Dall-E-2
The plot is complicated. An American was convicted of the murder of his wife and a man — who was lured to the couple’s home in Virginia, with the help of the family’s Brazilian nanny, to serve as a scapegoat. A malevolent and calculated conduct, said the judge.
One former IRS employeethe North American tax authority, who had an extramarital relationship with the family’s nanny, was sentenced this Friday to life in prison, without parole, for the murder of his wife and a man he had lured to the couple’s home to serve as a scapegoat.
The former tax agent, Brendan Banfieldinitially declared that he had shot Joseph Ryan after finding him attacking his wife, on the morning of February 24, 2023.
But prosecutors accused Banfield and the nanny, Juliana Peres Magalhãesto have set a trap for Ryanas part of a sophisticated plan to kill Brendan’s wife, Christine Banfieldpediatric intensive care nurse.
When reading the sentence, the judge Penney Azcarate classified Banfield’s conduct as malevolent and calculatedsays . “The disregard for the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable,” he said when delivering the sentence, which is mandatory in Virginia in cases of conviction of aggravated murder.
The plan involved “attract a completely innocent man to your death trap; continue after the murders without any concern; and never, not once, think about the impact” all of this would have on the Banfields’ 4-year-old daughter.
Brendan Banfield “took everything away”said Azcarate. In addition to the murder conviction, jurors had previously found Banfield guilty of having put a child in dangeras the couple’s daughter was at home at the time of the crimes.
Azcarate, who sentenced Banfield to 5 more years in prison for that charge and a further 3 years for a firearm-related charge, he stated that life imprisonment is “a severe sentence, but, in this case, justified”. In Virginia, the only penalty for aggravated murder is life in prison, notes the .
When speaking at the sentencing hearing, Banfield proclaimed his innocence. He said he loved his wife and that, although he had had extramarital relationshe never intended to leave her.
Azcarate was not convincedciting his lack of remorse as one of the reasons he had no hesitation in ordering him to remain behind bars for the rest of his life.
During Friday’s hearing, Danielle StoolChristine Banfield’s older sister, described her sister as a kind, caring personreliable and altruistic. She said the two grew up chasing fireflies and sleeping side by side on the floor in sleeping bags.
“When she was born, the ‘I’ became ‘we’” said Hocker. “I never stopped saying ‘we’ when I talked about my childhood after her death, only now, when I do, it takes my breath away — a pause filled with love that has nowhere to go.”
Ryan’s mother, Deidre Fishertold the court that his son was a person “extremely affectionate”, who took care of his grandmother and other loved ones.
“Joe was someone who believed in fighting for the weakesteven by really neglected dogs,” Fisher said with a chuckle. “I would walk into an animal shelter and asked for the oldest and ugliest dogstook them home and loved them for years.”
