What Really Happened Inside Brendan Banfield’s Home?

[00:00:00]Brendan and Christine Banfield lived in a cul-de-sac [music] in a leafy suburb in Virginia with their young daughter.

[00:00:06]Christine was a nurse and Brendan an armed IRS [music] agent. And because of their work schedules, they needed help with their daughter.

[00:00:14]So, that's why they hired a Brazilian au pair named Juliana Magalhaes. But, Juliana did more than just help with their daughter. She started an [music] intense affair with Brendan.

[00:00:26]>> How did it change?

[00:00:28]>> It became um sexual physical relationship.

[00:00:34]>> Then, they planned [music] and executed the murder of Christine and a man they lured to the house from a fetish website. This was one of the sickest, coldest spousal [music] murder plots I've ever seen in all my years at Court TV. I've seen a lot.

[00:00:52]>> She [music] yelled back at Brendan saying, "Brendan, he has a knife."

[00:00:56]And and that's um that's when >> [music] >> Brendan first shot Joel.

[00:01:03]>> Juliana pleaded guilty testifying against Brendan who denied everything.

[00:01:09]>> There was no plan [music] with Juliana on February 24th.

[00:01:12]>> The jury did not buy Brendan's story [music] and he was convicted. And now Brendan had one more chance in the courtroom [music] to tell his story as he was sentenced. And let me tell you, it didn't go well for him.

[00:01:27]Brendan Banfield is not stupid. [music] His murder plot was very calculated, but he lost the trial. The jury didn't believe him. So, now he's got another chance to speak in front of the judge at sentencing and the judge is not buying a word that he is trying to sell. Does Brendan Banfield actually think anyone thinks he's innocent?

[00:01:51]I'm Vinnie Politan. Let's investigate.

[00:02:08]>> Before I show you what Brendan Banfield was saying to the judge at his sentencing, you've got to understand the murder plot itself.

[00:02:18]As I said, this was the sickest, the coldest murder plot involving spouses, spouses with with a young child that I've ever seen.

[00:02:28]And it begins with a fetish website.

[00:02:32]Brendan Banfield goes on to a fetish website and starts an account pretending to be his wife, Christine.

[00:02:40]And he pretends to be Christine kind of cruising this fetish website looking for a victim, somebody that they can lure to the house, lure this unsuspecting victim over to his home in that cul-de-sac.

[00:02:57]Right? For a for an early morning hookup. But not just any old hookup, knife play. While pretending to be Christine, he tells this unsuspecting victim, "Yeah, come over to my house, bring a knife, and let's play out sort of a rape scene.

[00:03:16]I I may resist, but but that's okay.

[00:03:18]That's part of me of my fantasy."

[00:03:22]So, how sick is that?

[00:03:24]He is planning and plotting the sexual assault of his own wife before she's murdered.

[00:03:35]This is This is sick.

[00:03:37]Okay.

[00:03:39]So, what happens the morning? The The unsuspecting victim comes over, he's got the knife, he gets into the house because he leaves the door open, and then he goes upstairs. The His wife, Christine, is in bed still cuz it's early in the morning.

[00:03:52]The au pair had taken the daughter they were supposed to be going to the zoo that day, and Brendan had left for work. But, he really didn't go to work, he went to McDonald's and was waiting for Juliana, the au pair who he's having the affair with, to call him and let him know when the unsuspecting victim entered his home or arrived in the cul-de-sac. She makes the call, Brendan heads back from McDonald's just down the road, and then he walks into his home with his gun. He's an armed IRS agent.

[00:04:25]He goes upstairs and there is Christine being attacked by this man. He believes he's acting out of fantasy, the unsuspecting victim. Christine believes she's being sexually assaulted, and in that moment she probably thinks, "Oh, thank God my husband is here and he's got a gun."

[00:04:45]So, he shoots the unsuspecting victim, and then takes the knife and starts to stab his wife.

[00:04:56]So, in her final moments, as he stabs Christine, Christine, who has been sexually assaulted by a stranger, believes she's being saved by her husband, then realizes that her husband is there to murder her.

[00:05:14]That's what he was convicted of.

[00:05:16]That's how cold, calculating, and sick all of this was.

[00:05:20]All so he could be with the au pair.

[00:05:25]Okay.

[00:05:28]Let's get to his sentencing now. So, Brendan Bearfield testified at trial, and I'll show you that that that that testimony a little bit, but I want you to see what happened at the sentencing because this is a guy who I guess still believes that he can convince the judge and the world that this wasn't his plan, this wasn't his plot, and he's an innocent man.

[00:05:47]Let's watch.

[00:05:50]>> I'm greatly disappointed in the legal system. The system has failed not only me, but also Christine, my daughter Valerie, the Bensons, and the rest of my family.

[00:06:00]I was found guilty of a crime that I did not commit, but it's actually impossible to have committed the crime as the prosecution, their experts, and their witnesses have presented.

[00:06:10]The prosecution and their witnesses' statements do not match the evidence.

[00:06:14]My right to defend my family has been taken away.

[00:06:17]To defend my home and myself.

[00:06:19]This is a protected right that I'm sure everyone listening here knows they have.

[00:06:24]My right has been discarded.

[00:06:26]I'm being sentenced on an impossible set of circumstances. The prosecution's catfish theory was forced on detectives.

[00:06:33]Detectives did not agree with the catfish theory and were harassed, belittled, and then transferred out of their department unwillingly.

[00:06:40]Three different digital forensic experts agreed there was no catfish.

[00:06:45]This includes detective detective Miller.

[00:06:49]>> And this was part of his his story, his case, his defense was that there were some detectives who initially believed, "Oh, no, there was no catfishing going on here. This wasn't someone pretending to be Christine. This was actually Christine on the fetish website."

[00:07:04]Really?

[00:07:06]Really? Christine planned this rendezvous?

[00:07:10]Like she knew that her husband was going to leave for work early?

[00:07:13]She knew that the au pair was going to leave super early to go to the zoo with the daughter? Like she knew all that and then set up an early morning rendezvous with a complete stranger who she wanted to bring a knife over? Really? There was no evidence that Christine was into any of this stuff. There was no prior history until this.

[00:07:32]Let's continue to watch.

[00:07:33]>> Miller, uh their expert. This is a quote from his report.

[00:07:40]The event spanned over over 46-day period from 1/9/23 to 2/24/23.

[00:07:46]There's no indication that Christine lost control of her devices during that time. Christine is also active with these related uh specificities to [clears throat] to her during around the relevant times.

[00:08:00]Christine also has a pattern of being active on her devices during the relevant times over the year leading up to the period. This is This will include consistent email and browser activity between the hours of 2300 and 100 hours.

[00:08:16]Although >> Look at the judge.

[00:08:23]She's not buying it.

[00:08:24]>> not detailed Sorry.

[00:08:27]Um >> She's a great judge, by the way. That Same judge from the Johnny Depp trial.

[00:08:45]>> Detective Miller's report was sent for independent review to the University of Alabama for peer review. This is a best practice uh declared for digital forensics. Hollie Kennedy of the University of Alabama agreed with Detective Miller's process and finding that there was no loss of device no loss of dominion and control during the during this time.

[00:09:11]When Juliana was questioned about the about the details of the case, she was unable to verify or remember the information. Juliana did not know the password to Christine's phone, the laptop, the email account, the Telegram, or the FetLife account accounts.

[00:09:26]She did not even know the name of the of the email account.

[00:09:31]How could she have accessed it without any of that without any of that information?

[00:09:35]>> Hold it right there.

[00:09:37]So, what he's saying is is that the au pair, right, who he is having the affair with, right? In the marital home, in the marital bedroom, like all over the house.

[00:09:52]That she made it all up. She pleaded guilty to a murder that she did not commit.

[00:10:00]Why? She's still in prison, by the way.

[00:10:02]And she got a sweetheart deal with with an opportunity, but the judge slammed her.

[00:10:07]The judge slammed her. Like she's not going anywhere. She's locked up.

[00:10:12]She made it all up. That's basically what he's saying.

[00:10:16]Let's watch.

[00:10:17]>> Giuliana claimed that she wrote messages but could not identify a single message that she wrote.

[00:10:23]Giuliana said that the Gmail was created on the laptop when it was created on the phone.

[00:10:27]Then said that it that there was that I deleted the two-factor authentication, which was never which was never deleted, and never hidden. It was still there.

[00:10:37]The the Telegram application was also not hidden, always available on Christine's laptop.

[00:10:44]It was never uninstalled and reinstalled, and it was always available.

[00:10:50]When Giuliana was questioned about the email account, this is her quote.

[00:10:55]I was not the one that logged in. It was Brendan who accessed the email.

[00:10:59]The question was then restated and recent and said again, and this is her second quote. I was not the one logging in.

[00:11:08]The email account was accessed approximately 10 times while I was not home.

[00:11:13]This includes when I was in Maryland at a at Fletc, a secure government facility that required approx that required an appointment and ID verification to enter.

[00:11:26]If Giuliana did not enter did not enter these email accounts, but they were still logged in, There's only one other person that could access these accounts, and that is Christine.

[00:11:38]There are also two instances where neither Juliana or I were home with the with the logins. This includes the morning of 224 when I had left for work and was seen on video at McDonald's, and Juliana had left the house. Her movements were tracked and verified by GPS. Her phone logged that she was parked in the cul-de-sac, and her Apple Watch had logged her steps leaving the home. And by her own testimony, she had She also stated that she had left the home. Yet, after that, the laptop was then logged in and accessed again.

[00:12:09]There is no dispute that Joe Ryan brought the knife to my home.

[00:12:13]My DNA and fingerprints are not on the knife.

[00:12:16]Joe Ryan's DNA is on the knife right at the junction of the handle and the blade.

[00:12:21]>> All right, hold it right there. So So So what he's saying is that Joe Ryan, the unsuspecting victim who they picked, wasn't there for a fantasy.

[00:12:30]He was there to commit murder.

[00:12:34]He was there to kill Christine?

[00:12:37]Really?

[00:12:39]By the way, you look at the back and forth.

[00:12:42]Joe Ryan, the unsuspecting victim, was concerned and said in communications, "Listen, if you resist, I'm going to stop because I I you know, that's not the way I do this."

[00:12:54]Like they're into some kinky He's into some kinky stuff, which is fine. It's He's an adult.

[00:12:59]But he knows that there's boundaries and and there's certain lines was very evident they didn't want to cross.

[00:13:05]This This By the way, you're what you're watching right here is a man in a hole digging it deeper. This is the last thing the judge wants to hear at sentencing is you relitigating the case.

[00:13:16]Give the judge a reason not to give you the absolute maximum here.

[00:13:20]He's not doing it. Continue.

[00:13:22]>> DNA is right where you would expect it to be for someone who was forcefully using the knife.

[00:13:27]This is further verified by the injury that is on Joe's on Joe's thumb and his hand.

[00:13:33]The medical examiner verified the injury on Joe's on Joe's thumb could be could be caused by the knife.

[00:13:40]There are no injuries to my hands, nothing to indicate I ever held the knife.

[00:13:46]Joe's DNA is also under Joe Ryan's fingernails.

[00:13:50]Sorry.

[00:13:51]Joe's DNA is also under Christine's fingernails indicating that she tried to fight him off.

[00:13:58]Joe Ryan's have hands have a mixture of Joe's and Christine's DNA.

[00:14:02]When he got when he got back up and struck me in the back, it was transferred to the back of my jacket.

[00:14:08]Juliana's original statement on 224 stated that I never touched Joe. She repeated this both again in both of her proffer's and at trial.

[00:14:17]The prosecution has repeatedly said that I manipulated the scene and moved and moved Joe Ryan. I never left Christine's side. I only tried to render aid to her.

[00:14:28]Juliana wrote said that I poured blood on Joe.

[00:14:32]This does not match the findings of of the medical examiner or the blood spatter expert who described that these were transfers and were not and were not as droplets.

[00:14:42]Christine obtained tickets to the zoo and sent them to Juliana. There was no prompting for this.

[00:14:49]Christine wrote the zoo on the calendar and in Juliana's schedule. Only Christine could have planned the meeting on 224.

[00:14:57]The meeting of Christine and Joe was confirmed over a week prior, but only Christine could have chosen 224 because she was scheduled to work. No one else would know that this day would be available. On 220 4224, she had only requested off from work on February 23rd and had not informed anybody else that she was off until then.

[00:15:24]The Fairfax County Police Department never never truly looked into Joe Ryan.

[00:15:28]No search warrant was ever conducted at Joe's residence.

[00:15:32]Only two women were interviewed uh about their relationship with Joe and both found that that they were very uncomfortable with him. Both chose not to see him again.

[00:15:44]One was so uncomfortable that that she went to her therapist the next day. These are her quotes.

[00:15:51]She couldn't she felt so that she felt so out of place and that it was dirty and that he was uncomfortable towards her.

[00:16:03]Only one of Joe I believe only one of Joe's friends was also interviewed.

[00:16:08]He stated that in a confirmation that in a confrontation Joe would choke or strangle somebody.

[00:16:14]This matches Joe's social media profile saying that he studied neck snapping at Harvard.

[00:16:21]And to add to that where was Christine stabbed in the neck?

[00:16:26]Which Joe seems to have a uh a fondness for.

[00:16:33]These things these things are some of the are some of These are all other people.

[00:16:40]>> by the way, not from me.

[00:16:43]>> Joe Joe had previously also cut another woman.

[00:16:48]It's in his own messages in his own words that he was that that he was attracted to that.

[00:16:55]>> That's why you picked him.

[00:16:59]>> Separately there's entire internal affairs videos about this case.

[00:17:07]So either either Detective Bryant or Lieutenant Giaccio is lying based on what they said at trial, because Lieutenant Giaccio declined to denied saying that Giuliano was was arrested as an innocent.

[00:17:26]Meanwhile, Detective Bryant said that that was brought up to him by Giaccio in in his internal affairs video. Both of them are both of them were under oath. So, one of them would be committing a Giglio violation.

[00:17:43]Also, Detective Nielsen stated that Giuliano was arrested to get her to flip, and there was no other reason provided.

[00:17:58]You know, Christine was a wonderful and loving person.

[00:18:02]Just as you heard from many of the people here, she was a loving and and compassionate nurse.

[00:18:09]During COVID, she volunteered to take care of take care of many of the people that were sick and struggling.

[00:18:16]She signed up for extra shifts. She signed up for vaccination clinics.

[00:18:20]She cared for her daughter. She went She enrolled her in dance lessons. She was there for for recitals.

[00:18:30]I loved her very much.

[00:18:32]Despite what you may think of my affairs, our marriage worked for us. It wasn't something It wasn't something that I looked to end.

[00:18:40]There was no It was told to other women that I was never going to leave Christine.

[00:18:47]That was always That was always how it was said.

[00:18:54]Christine cared very much for her family and friends.

[00:18:59]Not trying to I'm not trying to diminish in any way what what her life what her life was. She truly was a caring a caring mother, a caring wife, a loving nurse.

[00:19:18]But I am not respon- I am not responsible for her death.

[00:19:21]This is not a knife that I ever held in my hand.

[00:19:24]And I never stabbed her.

[00:19:28]Thank you.

[00:19:32]>> That's unbelievable.

[00:19:34]Like that I I can picture him in his prison cell working on this thing like for the next 40 years.

[00:19:43]Constantly reliving everything and writing everything from that trial. Like there was something wrong with him, right? His whole affect. I don't know why Christine was with him to begin with.

[00:19:54]I I I I don't understand it. It It's not It's It's not a a pairing or a match that makes any sense to me.

[00:20:02]And and all of this all of this because of his affair.

[00:20:08]And he's trying to sell to the world, including the judge, number one that he's innocent, number two that Christine was into all this kink, and number three, yeah, it was just part of our marriage, you know.

[00:20:19]Christine, you know, she works as a nurse, takes care of the baby, and she hires an au pair for me to sleep with.

[00:20:26]Really?

[00:20:28]So after that ridiculous performance by Brendan Banfield at his own sentencing, where he should be attempting to mitigate what the judge is going to do, it's time for Judge um Penny Azcarate to sentence him. And you saw her reactions as he's speaking, right? She's uh military.

[00:20:49]She's a great judge. As I mentioned, she was the judge in the Johnny Depp case.

[00:20:54]Um she doesn't have time for this. So, let's take you back inside the courtroom now as the judge has an opportunity now to respond to Brendan Banfield at his sentencing. And um this is unbelievable.

[00:21:08]I Banfield is someone I can't believe they gave him a gun. Like, this guy was walking around with a gun.

[00:21:14]As an IRS agent, but maybe maybe that I don't know. Like, how did they hire him and say this is this guy is someone who should have a gun, be armed, and have some form of power in enforcing the law when what we just saw inside that courtroom. The guy is totally unhinged.

[00:21:37]Lost.

[00:21:39]Doesn't understand the world and doesn't understand our system of justice.

[00:21:43]But, the judge does. Let's watch.

[00:21:47]>> All right. Mr. Banfield, a jury of your peers, after hearing all the evidence, has found you guilty of count one of the indictment, 2024-666, aggravated murder of two people in the same act or transaction.

[00:22:01]They found you guilty of count four of 2024-666, aggravated murder of two people within a 3-year period, count five of 2024-666, use of a firearm in the commission of the felony, and count one of 2024-873, child endangerment.

[00:22:16]And, in accordance with Virginia law, although you have been found guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, the court can only sentence you on one count of aggravated murder, which will be count one of 2024-666.

[00:22:28]The statute requires a sentence of life imprisonment on this count, which is now the highest penalty one can receive in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This exact statute was our capital murder statute until Virginia abolished capital punishment in 2021.

[00:22:41]You should understand you were found guilty of crimes that five short years ago would have carried the sentence of death.

[00:22:47]That reflects the severity of your crimes and your actions.

[00:22:51]Life in prison is a punishment reserved for a very small number of individuals.

[00:22:55]Those whom the community community has determined should never walk free again.

[00:22:59]It is a harsh sentence, but in this case it is a justified one.

[00:23:03]In the 18 years I've been on the bench, I have seen hundreds of defendants appear before me, and I've had the arduous task task of sentencing these individuals.

[00:23:11]In the vast majority of these cases, people made mistakes, were struggling with substance use disorders, or acting in anger, choosing violence in a moment that changed everything. They were not inherently bad people, but they made terrible decisions and suffered the consequences.

[00:23:26]Sentencing in those cases is difficult.

[00:23:28]It weighs on me often long after the hearing is over.

[00:23:32]Only two times prior to today have I encountered something different in my courtroom.

[00:23:37]Two individuals that carried no remorse, calculated and planned their violent crimes, and left many victims and devastation in their path.

[00:23:45]As I listened to the evidence in this case and listened to your testimony, it is apparent that I am once again looking at that same kind of evil.

[00:23:53]The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable.

[00:23:58]Scheming for months a master plan involving so many moving parts, including deception and manipulation manipulation, luring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap, continuing on after the murders without a care, and not once not once thinking of the impact on Christine's daughter, the unspoken tragic victim of your behavior.

[00:24:18]You did not just take her mother from her, you placed her in the middle of the horror you created.

[00:24:24]She is young now, but one day she will understand your true self, and she will understand what you took from her, which is everything.

[00:24:31]The loss of her mother, who will never be a part of her life as she grows, the loss of her family and the security she lived under.

[00:24:38]All of this is lost based on your calculated and selfish behavior.

[00:24:42]It is impossible to comprehend what Joseph Ryan experienced, seeing you enter the court enter the room, being shot in the head, blinded, hearing you instruct the co-defendant to shoot him again.

[00:24:54]And Christine, to imagine her final thoughts as she initially thought you were there to save her from what she thought was a brutal attack.

[00:25:01]And then to see you over her stabbing her again and again with a knife in her neck.

[00:25:07]Her final realization that this was all your doing.

[00:25:10]And in her final moments thinking of her daughter.

[00:25:13]The sentence I impose today reflects not only the law but the judgment of the community.

[00:25:17]The jury did not find your you credible on the stand.

[00:25:20]To testify as you did shows the court that you still think that you are the smartest person in the room.

[00:25:25]One would hope that someday you will become tortured by what you have done to Christine, Joe, Christine's daughter, and their families.

[00:25:31]>> Wow.

[00:25:32]>> I have seen suggests that you will.

[00:25:35]The level of cruelty, calculation, and inhumanity in this case reflects something far deeper than anger or impulse.

[00:25:42]It reflects evil.

[00:25:44]Which is why I carry no burden and find no hesitation in sentencing you to life.

[00:25:49]On count one of 2024-666 aggravated murder, I sentence you to life in the penitentiary for the rest of your natural life without the possibility of parole, without good conduct allowances, or any earned sentence credits, or conditional release.

[00:26:02]On count five of 2024-666 use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, I sentence you to 3 years in the penitentiary, which is a mandatory term and cannot be suspended. Since it is required by statute, an additional 6 months is ordered and suspended for post-release probation, which is a nullity in this case but is required to be part of the sentence.

[00:26:20]On count one of 2024-873 child endangerment, I sentence you to 5 years in the penitentiary. Since it is required by statute, an additional 6 months is ordered and suspended for post-release probation, which is again a nullity in this case but is required to be part of the sentence. Each of these sentences are consecutive, that is one after the other. And since you've been convicted of a felony in Virginia, a sample of your DNA will be taken and submitted to the Virginia State Police database. That is the sentence of the court. Are there any questions, Mr. Carroll?

[00:26:47]Any questions?

[00:26:48]>> Wow.

[00:26:50]It's amazing as you listen to judge and this is a judge who has seen a lot.

[00:26:56]Like this guy from her perspective like it's consistent with my perspective. Like worst of the worst, this evil.

[00:27:04]It was so cold, it was so calculated, this plan.

[00:27:08]And to think of what the victims went through in that moment.

[00:27:14]Like how do you even like sit down and come up with this plot?

[00:27:21]You're different than the rest of us.

[00:27:25]You need to be punished.

[00:27:27]And and let me tell you this would have been a death penalty sentence for this guy.

[00:27:35]Absolutely would have been a death penalty sentence.

[00:27:39]But they changed the law in Virginia.

[00:27:42]So now he he goes there for the rest of his life. But what's he going to do with all that time?

[00:27:48]He is just going to I don't think he relives or tortures himself with what he did.

[00:27:54]I think from his perspective he relives the trial over and over again, will become one of those um jailhouse lawyers cuz he as the judge pointed out thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, maybe the smartest guy in the jailhouse, right? So he's going to file all his motions even when he runs out of money and runs out of lawyers.

[00:28:16]He's never going to run out of time to try to get out of prison.

[00:28:20]But it's not happening.

[00:28:23]So as we heard Brendan Banfield spent a lot of time at his sentencing talking about the au pair.

[00:28:31]You know, the the au pair that he was sleeping with in his own home, in his own bedroom, the one who moved into the master bedroom after his wife was murdered. Yeah, that au pair. And was attacking her testimony and everything that she said because she was one of the important witnesses against Brendan Banfield at the trial.

[00:28:52]So, let's go into the courtroom, take a listen to Juliana Magalhaes' testimony relative to what she says happened the morning that Christine and the unsuspected unsuspecting victim are murdered.

[00:29:09]And it and it's interesting cuz there's a lot of little moments here um that to me seem so real in the way she describes it.

[00:29:18]But maybe you don't believe her.

[00:29:20]Certainly, Brendan Banfield doesn't think anyone should believe her. Let's watch.

[00:29:27]>> And he proceeded to go upstairs and I just followed him upstairs to to the master bedroom.

[00:29:40]>> Who opened the bedroom door?

[00:29:42]>> Brendan.

[00:29:45]>> Did you go inside the bedroom?

[00:29:47]>> Yes.

[00:29:48]>> And what did you see when you went inside the bedroom?

[00:29:51]>> When we first get into the bedroom, I could see that the the bed we have in in the master bedroom it was kind of tall.

[00:30:03]And so from from my point of view, all I could see was like Joe and the woman and it was Joe like on top of Christine in a way I'll I'll describe holding her holding her down.

[00:30:21]And that was my my first view as soon as I get into the bedroom.

[00:30:28]>> Were you able to tell um were you able to see Christine at all at that point?

[00:30:32]>> At that point, no.

[00:30:36]>> Did anyone say anything when you the two of you went into the the >> Yeah, when I got, um, to the bedroom Brendan said, um, he yelled, "Police officer."

[00:30:51]And Christine's first reaction, that was the first time I heard she say anything at that point.

[00:30:58]And she yelled back at Brendan saying, "Brendan, he has a knife."

[00:31:02]And >> Hold it right there.

[00:31:05]>> Yeah, that >> This is what we were talking about and what the judge was talking about.

[00:31:12]That moment.

[00:31:15]Christine is being attacked.

[00:31:20]The unsuspecting victim believes he's role-playing a fantasy of Christine's.

[00:31:25]Christine has no idea. She believes she's being attacked by a home invader.

[00:31:34]And Christine yells, "He's got a knife."

[00:31:37]Why would she yell, "He's got a knife."

[00:31:41]If she's the one that set the whole thing up here?

[00:31:47]She wouldn't.

[00:31:48]And in in that moment where she says, "Brendan, he's got a knife."

[00:31:52]She believes she's being saved by her husband, the father of her child.

[00:32:00]When it's the exact opposite.

[00:32:02]Let's watch some more.

[00:32:05]>> That's, um, that's when Brendan first shot Joe.

[00:32:16]>> Did you see Joe before he was shot?

[00:32:19]>> Yeah.

[00:32:21]>> What did he look like when he saw Brendan?

[00:32:24]>> Shocked.

[00:32:26]>> Did anyone say anything?

[00:32:28]>> If anyone said anything?

[00:32:29]>> Yeah, did anyone say anything in the room at that point?

[00:32:32]>> Yeah, because, um, Brendan ran to Christine. She was still um on the on the floor.

[00:32:41]And I think that point she she had she had seen me.

[00:32:47]And she said she had asked her what to do to Brennan, I think regarding to that he shot Joe.

[00:32:56]And she said my name. She told me to dial 911.

[00:33:04]>> And what did you do?

[00:33:06]>> I called 911.

[00:33:09]>> And what happened after you called 911?

[00:33:13]>> Um at that point Joe was already shot, so that's the the the sound in the background.

[00:33:23]And Brennan looks at me and just in a way for me like to um to hang up the call.

[00:33:37]>> Hold it right there. This is the this is important.

[00:33:41]This is the moment where the the plan and the plot falls apart with the 911 call.

[00:33:47]Christine is saying call 911 and Juliana, well, that's my boss. She's telling me call 911, so I call 911, but but that's not the plan.

[00:33:56]You don't call 911 until the two victims are dead.

[00:34:02]Then you call 911.

[00:34:04]So he has her hang up on 911.

[00:34:08]Weird.

[00:34:09]Strange. Makes no sense, but her story about it makes sense that she is in the middle of this murder plot. It's happening and she panics and she calls 911 when she wasn't supposed to.

[00:34:23]Let's continue to listen.

[00:34:25]>> Hang up the call.

[00:34:26]>> No, he did not.

[00:34:27]>> How did he communicate to you?

[00:34:30]>> A gesture.

[00:34:32]>> And what gesture did he make?

[00:34:35]>> This.

[00:34:37]>> And so, what did you do after he made that gesture?

[00:34:40]>> I hung up the phone the the phone call.

[00:34:48]>> [clears throat] >> What if anything happened next?

[00:34:51]>> Next, um, he was stood up Christine, Joe was laying there.

[00:34:59]And the that to told me to grab a towel.

[00:35:05]When I when I was bringing him the towel he he had get he he got on top of her and I that's when I first saw him stab her with the knife.

[00:35:26]>> Where on her body was he stabbing her?

[00:35:29]>> The neck.

[00:35:33]>> Wow.

[00:35:39]She's not the greatest witness in the world. She is cold and distant, doesn't seem to be necessarily emotionally impacted by the double murder that she and her boyfriend at the time were committing.

[00:35:57]But it does paint a picture and fill in the gaps as to what happened and in what order it all happened.

[00:36:06]He shoot the intruder, the so-called intruder, the unsuspecting victim of all of this was lured into the whole thing by Banfield. Shoot him first and then he takes the knife that was brought to the home and uses it on Christine. And you can see how how plan in Brendan Banfield's mind makes sense.

[00:36:31]But it didn't go as planned.

[00:36:33]Number one, cuz Juliana called 911.

[00:36:36]Number two, she finally agreed to tell the truth.

[00:36:41]Now, let's get to the testimony by Brendan Banfield in front of the jury.

[00:36:46]We saw the way he was in front of the judge.

[00:36:48]Not great, right? Okay, so let's go back to the trial now and see him on the witness stand because he took the stand to tell his story.

[00:36:57]A story that the jury did not buy.

[00:37:01]Let's watch.

[00:37:03]>> I heard the sounds of I would say moaning as well as sound of skin on skin contact.

[00:37:15]>> Hold it right there.

[00:37:16]>> on at that >> What is he talking about?

[00:37:21]I heard this he walks into his house and from the upstairs he can hear the sound of skin on skin contact. What does that sound like?

[00:37:34]And moaning.

[00:37:35]He is painting a picture that Christine his wife is into this. That Christine his wife sent everybody away from the house so she could have this like 8:00 a.m.

[00:37:49]early morning knife play fetish rape fantasy play out.

[00:37:57]That's what he's saying.

[00:37:59]This is Christine. This is what she's into. I'm into au pairs. She's into this fetish stuff.

[00:38:06]That's what That's what he's trying to sell to the jury.

[00:38:09]Let's watch.

[00:38:11]>> What was going on at that point?

[00:38:14]Sex.

[00:38:14]>> Pushing the door open with my right foot revealed uh Christine and who I now know is Joseph Ryan.

[00:38:24]Um they were on the floor near the bottom left of my bed.

[00:38:33]>> You saw a knife there.

[00:38:37]What were you thinking in terms of Joe Ryan with a knife to Christine's neck?

[00:38:45]>> I was extremely terrified. He told me that she was hers. That he That Yeah, that she was hers, and that she gave herself to me.

[00:38:57]And Christine kind of yelled, moaned. It appeared that he did a very forceful stab towards Christine.

[00:39:10]And Christine kind of spun away from him. So, this kind of had Joe now like [clears throat] on his on his knees, kind of facing Christine.

[00:39:28]Of which I saw him do a downward stabbing stroke, and that is when I And that's when I fired at him. Christine told me >> That's all right there. Like He's describing the assault and murder of his wife, allegedly, right? By Joseph Ryan.

[00:39:47]And he's like an awkward robot describing this. It's really weird.

[00:39:54]The only thing stranger than his testimony is his hair do, but I don't want to go there.

[00:40:00]>> [sighs] >> And I can understand why the jury didn't buy this, cuz I wasn't buying it when it happened. Like it It's It's None of this seems real. This seems like a very calculated plan and calculated testimony in a calculated description of exactly what he is seeing.

[00:40:19]It's it it seems too detailed to a certain extent for a very hectic moment.

[00:40:27]He's playing it out like it's a really bad TV show.

[00:40:32]Or made-for-TV movie.

[00:40:33]Let's watch more.

[00:40:36]>> She was bleeding out.

[00:40:38]And that Um that she was sorry and that she loved me.

[00:40:47]>> You've had multiple affairs, correct?

[00:40:50]>> Yes.

[00:40:50]>> Okay. And one of those affairs was with a woman named Danielle who you met on a fetish site searching for sugar babies. Is that correct?

[00:41:02]>> Uh I would not call it a fetish site.

[00:41:05]>> You see Joe Ryan behind your naked wife with something metal in his hand. Is that accurate?

[00:41:12]>> Yes.

[00:41:13]>> You did not yell for Juliana who's behind you to call 911.

[00:41:17]>> I didn't know that Juliana was behind me or had climbed the stairs at that point. I had only seen her on the main floor leave it.

[00:41:25]>> Okay, but you told us that the foyer is this big echoey chamber that you can hear from anywhere in the house. If she's in the foyer and you're standing at the door whether or not she's immediately behind you if you yelled call 911, she would hear you, wouldn't she in this echoey foyer?

[00:41:40]>> Yes, she would hear that.

[00:41:41]>> Okay. And when first responders arrived you agree you're on video holding her neck with your bare hands, correct?

[00:41:52]>> I think so.

[00:41:54]>> So where had the towel, the blanket, the blanket, the sheet gone at that point after you were instructed by 911?

[00:42:00]>> I think the towel was right next to me, but >> It was under your knees, wasn't it?

[00:42:07]>> I don't I don't know.

[00:42:11]>> Okay.

[00:42:11]>> I thought it was right next to me.

[00:42:13]>> Thank you. Nothing further, Judge.

[00:42:15]>> She didn't need to do anything further.

[00:42:18]Um not a great witness.

[00:42:21]There's There's nothing that strikes you as him being impacted by this. This is the the mother of his little girl.

[00:42:31]And he's describing the murder, and I don't feel like he is taking us in the moment. Like I I've heard from other witnesses and we through the years when someone is recounting something, it just seems so much more real. This seems so precisely picked words and images, and it it it just did not resonate with me and obviously the jury.

[00:42:53]Um life no parole justice is served in this case. I get it. The au pair will get out at some point, so that's not necessarily justice served, but they needed her testimony in this case and they had to make a deal with the devil, and they did.

[00:43:09]Um what I'm thinking about is that little girl now has a long road ahead of her to try to make some sense of her life losing her mom and her father responsible and her father behind bars. I don't know what she'll believe. I just hope that she gets the help and the support that she needs because she's been put in this predicament because her daddy wanted a new life with a new Brazilian wife.

[00:43:37]And now this mess.

[00:43:41]That's it for this time. Thank you so much for watching. Until next time, please don't forget to hug the kids.