Richmond, Va. — An au pair who plotted with his employer-lover to kill his wife and another man were sentenced Friday to 10 years.
Brazilian au pair sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting to kill lover’s wife and another manProsecutors recommended Juliana Pérez Magalhas’ immediate release in exchange for her guilty plea to a lesser degree of manslaughter in the February 2023 slaying of Joseph Ryan. He testified that he fatally shot Ryan because Brendan Banfield was fatally stabbing his wife Christine in the couple’s bedroom.
Instead, the judge gave the Brazilian woman the maximum sentence.
“I know my remorse will not bring you peace,” Magalhaes told the victims’ families. “I lost myself in a relationship and left my morals and values behind.”
Fairfax Chief Circuit Court Judge Penny S. Azcaret showed little mercy.
“Let’s be straight: the victim and her family deserve nothing but a life of imprisonment and reflection for what you did to them. It can weigh heavily on your soul,” the judge said.
Magalhaes remained silent for months before agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against Brendan Banfield, who was convicted by a jury this month of aggravated manslaughter in the deaths of his wife and Ryan. Prosecutors said they continued their relationship for months after the murder.
At his trial, Magalhaes testified that he and Banfield, an IRS agent, created an account in the name of his wife, a pediatric intensive care nurse, on a social media platform for people interested in sex. Ryan connects to the account and agrees to meet for sex involving a knife.
Magalhayes said he and Brendan Banfield took the couple’s 4-year-old child into the basement and then entered the bedroom, where he said Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and stabbed his wife in the neck. When he saw Ryan move, Magalhaes said, he fired a second shot that killed him.
He wasn’t arrested until eight months later, and didn’t speak to investigators for more than a year, until he changed his mind as his own trial date approached.
Banfield’s attorney scrutinized the former au pair’s motives during his trial, arguing that he was only saying what prosecutors wanted to hear.
As part of his plea deal, his attorney and prosecutors agreed to end his time behind bars at his sentencing hearing. Chief Justice Penny Azcaret could still reject that deal. In Virginia, manslaughter is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without text modification
