Brendan Banfield sentenced to life in prison in double-murder case | CNN

Brendan Banfield, the Virginia man convicted of killing his wife and a stranger as part of an elaborate plot with the family’s au pair, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole after facing his victims’ loved ones in court. “The level of cruelty, calculation and inhumanity in this case reflects something far deeper than anger or impulse – it reflects evil, which is why I carry no burden and find no hesitation in sentencing you to life,” Judge Penney S. Azcarate said as she handed down the sentence. Banfield and the au pair – who were having an affair – lured Joseph Ryan into the family’s home in February 2023 under the pretense of a sexual encounter to frame him for the killing of Banfield’s wife, Christine, prosecutors argued. Brendan Banfield and the 26-year-old au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, both took the stand during the double-murder trial and offered conflicting accounts about the killings, with Banfield insisting he shot Ryan after he found the man attacking his wife. The judge also ordered Banfield, 41, to serve consecutive prison sentences for his convictions on a firearms offense and a child endangerment charge. The latter charge was rel