A Virginia jury on Monday convicted Brendan Banfield of aggravated murder for the killings of his wife and another man nearly three years ago.
Prosecutors argued Banfield plotted for months with the family’s au pair – with whom he was having an extramarital affair – to murder his wife, Christine Banfield, and frame the other man, Joseph Ryan, for her death.
Brendan Banfield is expected to be sentenced to life in prison, the mandatory penalty for the highest murder charge in Virginia.
Banfield was in love with the au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, and plotted to get rid of his wife so they could be together, prosecutors said. Together they created fake accounts to pose as his wife on a fetish website to lure Ryan to the home under the guise of a consensual but violent sexual encounter with Christine, the au pair testified.
Prosecutors say Banfield fatally stabbed his wife and shot Ryan when he intervened in the encounter between Ryan and his wife and then staged the crime scene to make Ryan’s killing appear to be an act of self-defense.
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