Brendan Banfield Sentencing Hearing

Añadido: 2026-06-07

[00:06:04]some testimony that you would like to present to the judge about the loss of Christine in your life.

[00:06:09]>> I would. Please.

[00:06:10]>> Thank you.

[00:06:12]>> Again, my name is Danielle Hawker and Christine Banfield is my younger sister.

[00:06:18]My family has publicly stayed silent since my sister's murder, except for a brief statement after the trial concluded.

[00:06:26]We chose to protect Christine and Valerie to prevent the media from contorting our words or create fodder for keyboard warriors.

[00:06:35]We were however not spared the media's attention. In the hours following Christine's murder, I received a call from a reporter masked in sympathy, asking for a statement and pictures of Christine.

[00:07:06]Since then, my husband and I have received countless calls and emails.

[00:07:10]They pale in comparison to the overwhelming volume my parents have endured. Christine does, however, deserve to be talked about by those that loved her. Grief is not something that is done on display or shared except those closest to you. And even then, it is more often hides behind closed doors in quiet moments.

[00:07:32]Internally, I feel like a different person. Like my identity has shifted in an unimaginable way. Part of who I was, who I still am, is a big sister. And in what seemed like seconds, it was taken from me, taken from us. While justice was served, it does not lift the grief or make more space for it. It will never bring Joseph Ryan back to his loved ones or Christine back to our family.

[00:07:59]In the three years since Christine's death, some days I feel like I'm living with a ticking time bomb, waiting for it to explode. Fear and anxiety taking over. My mind telling my body that something else terrible is going to happen.

[00:08:12]I waited for answers for more information.

[00:08:16]I was in a perpetual state of limbo. The daily messages I would receive with pictures of Valerie stopped and were replaced with calls from reporters wanting the next headline.

[00:08:27]The text Christine and I exchanged stopped. The evening call I would randomly get while she was driving home from work would never happen again.

[00:08:36]The trip I had booked to celebrate Valerie's fifth birthday the following month would not happen. Life as I knew it ended. Yet, I remained guilty for living and left without the one person who should have known me the longest, gone.

[00:08:51]When we were little, Christine and I would often get mistaken for twins. We were nearly four years apart. my baby sister or my [ __ ] as I like to call her. We both had curly hair, but otherwise I didn't understand what other people saw. When I look into a mirror, I sometimes see her first, my face replaced by hers, and in a flash, she's gone, and I'm left confused by my own reflection. She was her own person, never trying to be me, but always wanted to be by my side and I hers.

[00:09:23]I don't remember much of my life before she was born. I have only a handful of memories that are more like looking at a picture.

[00:09:31]I do have a vivid memory of going to the baby doctor with my mom and Grammy, our maternal grandmother, who we also called Grammy Bird.

[00:09:40]Grammy would keep me entertained by walking around outside and picking flowers. During one appointment, I was stung by a bee and became upset wanting my mom.

[00:09:49]Grammy brought me inside where a baby monitor showed a dark blurry image I couldn't understand. As she held me, my mom pointed to it and said it was the baby. At just about four years old, the same age as Valerie was when Christine was killed. I was excited to be a big sister. Once she was born, I became Lee.

[00:10:10]I haven't stopped saying we when I speak about my childhood after her death, except now when I do. It takes my breath away. A pause filled with love that has nowhere to go.

[00:10:21]We were each other's first friends, sleeping each in each other's bedrooms, in sleeping bags, on the floor, or in tents in the den. I climbed in her crib several times and attempted a solar diaper solo diaper change unsuccessfully.

[00:10:35]Our best friends were sisters. We would stay up late on Saturday nights waiting for our dad to come home from his 400 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. shift. Watch Saturday Night Live and eat hot bagels he picked up on his way home. Our favorite show was Schoolhouse and we would get in giggle fits at her grandparents house for no reason.

[00:10:55]She would fall asleep anywhere like a New Kids on the Block concert or in a short car ride telling me to wake me up when we be there.

[00:11:03]She was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys, specifically Kevin from the Backstreet Boys. She loved them so much she got and her she and her best friend camped outside a Raid while the moms took terms sleeping in the car in a parking lot. This was the '9s. There was no internet, only a ticket master at a drugstore.

[00:11:22]She loved Brad Pitt, legends of the Brad Pit, fall Brad Pitt, so much that if she had a boy, I was sure she would name him Tristan. Our childhood was spent at home in our basement playroom. At friends houses, we would call on our corded landline to see if they could come out and play. On family vacations, at our grandparents' houses in their pool, fishing on our dad or our grandfather's boats, crabbing off a dock with Grabby Bird, eating Entimman's cakes, and drinking coffee out of tiny cups at La Grandma and Grandpa's house, our paternal grandparents.

[00:11:57]We got our first haircuts from our paternal grandfather, a professional barber, in our backyard, and he would give us charms, lollipops from his in-home barber shop, and shove $5 in our hands as we left. We didn't have internet until high school and cell phones until college. We played outside catching tiny frogs, lightning bugs, and jars, and used our imaginations to find fun anywhere. We had family traditions that mostly revolved around food, Italian food to be specific. In our house, we ate macaroni, not pasta, and sauce, not gravy. Holidays, birthdays, Sunday dinners, and countless big and small events were spent with our aunts and uncles. Our grandparents were a large part of our upbringing as they were ever present in our lives.

[00:12:44]Grammy Bird passed away in September of 2022, just five months before Christine.

[00:12:49]Our family was still grieving her loss when Christine died.

[00:12:54]Even though we may have looked similar, we each had our own distinct personalities. She was kind and caring and precocious as a little girl, thoughtful and wise beyond her years. It was no surprise when she said she wanted to be a nurse at a young age. Her warmth only grew as she got older. She had a way about her that made people feel comfortable and welcomed without effort.

[00:13:16]New people scared me and I was awkward in social situations. She loved being about friends and large groups didn't intimidate her like they did me. She was a resident adviser in college, always looking for ways to help others. She was reliable and selfless and would give up her own time to help a friend in need.

[00:13:37]After she finished college, we found ourselves living in our childhood home home again. It felt a little like we were kids again, but without the sleeping bags.

[00:13:47]It didn't last long as she started her first nursing job and wanting her independence. She lived her life at her own pace and I didn't question her decisions unless she asked for guidance.

[00:13:57]I listened and asked questions so I could better understand what she needed off before offering any advice. The memories we shared growing up held help helped shape my sense of love, family, and who I am. They felt simple and whole, filled with laughter, safety, and love. Since losing her, those same memories have changed. They are no longer just joyful, but layered with grief. Each one a reminder of both how much I had and how much was taken.

[00:14:30]Christine was married the year before my husband Joe and I. I look back on this day with a heavy mix of emotions. I was so happy for her about to start her journey to becoming a family. That feeling is hard to hold on to now because it still feels like a happy memory but mixed with a deep sadness.

[00:14:47]What rushes in now is the realization that we will never experience milestone events again. No birthdays, Thanksgivings, Christmases, family vacations, family traditions, no new memories to form.

[00:15:01]Our family will make it will still celebrate. But there is a missing piece, an emptiness that fills the room. The weight of that feeling makes it hard to move through the day, like walking through water, fully clothed.

[00:15:18]When Christine found out she was pregnant with Valerie, she was living in New York. Joe and I were living in New Hampshire. She mailed me a card that said, "I missed the crap out of you." It made me giggle. And when I opened it, there was this auto picture that immediately made me think of her on that baby monitor. I was so excited for her.

[00:15:36]Deep inside, I was sad for myself and my husband. Just the day before, I'd had an invasive test several years after several years of infertility, which led to more questions than answers. I never told Christine about that procedure, and I regret not leaning on her for support.

[00:15:53]Three months after Christine's death, I was in the hospital recovering from surgery, finally getting answers. She should have been there holding my hand and reassuring me that I would be okay after a nearly eight-hour procedure complicated by the von Willibbrand's disease, the bleeding disorder that we shared.

[00:16:11]Less than a year later, I faced another major surgery. I was terrified not just of the procedure but of the possibility of losing leaving my family behind after losing What remained was an ambiguous grief layered on top of an all ready soul crushing loss. I try not to dwell on the support she might have given me. The imagined conversations I have with her offer little comfort.

[00:17:09]The day Christine was murdered lives in my head on repeat. Starting with the early morning text Joe received from my father and all caps call me now to collapsing on the floor after grabbing the phone and hearing the words from my father that Christine was stabbed and had been killed is mixed with my own screams. The two forever intertwined.

[00:17:30]My parents were going over a bridge on their way to Virginia for an overnight stay with Christine when they received the devastating news. I was full of anxiety about them driving after receiving this horrific news.

[00:17:43]The plan Brendan carried out with Juliana needed unknowing participation from my parents to be sure that they would be home or that she would be home from work. They would still have several more hours to drive while informing family of Christine's murder, hearing shock and expressions of grief repeatedly. No parent should have to make that phone call, but they did it again and again.

[00:18:06]This is the burden of a parent that loses a child.

[00:18:11]Watching the immediate news coverage set off countless imagined scenarios.

[00:18:15]Somehow, I found myself reliving something I had never experienced as if I had been there. I envisioned Christine's fear, felt her terror, and wished I was there to take her place. I no longer had a sister. I was no longer a sister. I said this on the phone with an old friend that day, and she told me that even though she was gone, we would always be sisters. And we cried.

[00:18:39]I flew to Virginia the next day. My parents picked me and my aunt, who had flown on from New York, up at the airport.

[00:18:46]They were quiet, moved slowly, and I could see the heaviness of the loss pushing them down as they tried to hold the weight of the pain my sister endured in the last moments of her life. I knew I had to be strong. I had to hold back tears not to upset them further. One day, Joe and I will be entrusted with caring for my parents as they grow older. And we will meet that responsibility with love. But no how matter but no matter how much we give it will never feel whole. That role was meant to be shared with my sister together as daughters making decisions supporting one another and walking through this stage of life as a family.

[00:19:29]Unknowing participation would be the cornerstone of Brendan's plan. He used friends and family to continue his affair with Juliana and formulate his plan. He used his own daughter as a part of his plan to bring her into the house to kill her mother.

[00:19:45]He lured an unknowing participant, Joseph Ryan, to his death. Based on the accounts from Joseph Ryan's loved ones, he had a kind soul, put others needs before his own, and would have tried to protect my sister from harm, not cause any.

[00:20:00]During the course of the trial, I learned that on October 29th, 2022, Brendan and Juliana went to a gun range.

[00:20:07]That same day, I along with our mom and aunt visited for Halloween. We spent the day at various Halloween events in the area with Christine and Valerie while Brendan and Juliana perfected this part of their plan.

[00:20:20]When I learned this, I went numb. I felt as though I had in some way been used to facilitate what happened simply because I didn't recognize the signs.

[00:20:30]Since then, I have replayed countless moments, fixating on small details and convincing myself that I should have noticed something, that there must have been a clue that I missed.

[00:20:41]Looking back with information I did not have time have at the time distorts what I actually experienced. Yet, the emotional weight of the guilt still feels real. The shame runs deep and it has caused me to question my own judgment and perception. Even though I understand that I was evaluating incomplete and concealed information, guilt is meant to be tied to a choice and I did not choose harm. Despite this understanding, I continue to struggle with the feeling of being drawn into something I never knowingly participated in. I know rationally that these feelings are misplaced, but I do not know yet know how long it will take to fully reconcile them with what was done to my family in the way that I was implicated in it.

[00:21:23]I didn't truly know Brendan at all. I don't believe anyone did. Not family, not friends, and certainly not Christine. His testimony was the most self-serving display of narcissism I have ever witnessed. He attempted to smear her through outright lies and victim blaming, accusing her of betraying the oath she took as a nurse.

[00:21:43]An accusation that not only intact her integrity, but further wronged the vulnerable patients in her care.

[00:21:50]As Christine's sister, I didn't just lose her. I had to sit and listen to a version of her that did not exist. I knew her in a way that he never could. I knew her honesty, her compassion, her refusal to live with secrets. Hearing him attempt to rewrite her life and her character felt like losing her all over again. Piece by piece in a room where she could not defend herself.

[00:22:15]His lies did not just attempt to destroy her reputation. They forced me to relive my grief with anger and helplessness. I cannot fully describe. He was the one that had countless affairs. Several attempts at finding the right mistress that would eventually help carry out the plan with him because the absurd line of questioning about a plan didn't just develop when he started his affair with Juliana. I believe she meant no more to him than anyone else in his life. She was just another person to control and exploit.

[00:22:47]What he presented as affection was manipulation.

[00:22:51]What may have appeared as love was nothing more than strategy. If there had been any genuine intent to build a life with Juliana, he could have chosen a lawful and honest path. He could have divorced and moved on. But divorce would have required relinquishing control, and control was always the priority. His actions were not driven by love, but a desire for power, deception, and a complete disregard for the lies he destroyed.

[00:23:19]The callous way he spoke about Christine will one day be heard and seen by Valerie. She will eventually come to terms with the fact that her father, the person who is meant to protect her above all else, used her and put her directly in harm's way. Valerie may hold only a faint memory of a life untouched by loss. But for most of her years, she will know her mother through grief and the stories of others share with her.

[00:23:46]We will do everything we can to fill those stories with light so she comes to know her mother through joy and not the through joy and love, not only through the weight of what was taken from her. Christine's last words and thoughts had to be about Valerie.

[00:24:05]if she had done enough in the short time that she had with her, worry about who would care for her, not apologizing to Brendan and making sure he knew how loved he was.

[00:24:19]Christine chose to dedicate her nursing career to the caring for the most vulnerable, to babies and children during their most difficult moments. She provided comfort to pro to frightened parents who wish they could take their children's place. She made those moments more bearable with her big smile and infectious laugh. I can still hear her laugh in my head.

[00:24:41]Christine dedicated herself to her daughter who will grieve her loss at every milestone in her life. I will be there never to replace my sister, but to tell Valerie who her mother was, remind her of her big laugh and even bigger heart. I will tell Valerie how much she was loved by her mother. And I will forever carry both the grief of losing her too soon and the gratitude of having loved her for 37 years and being loved by her in return.

[00:25:11]That bond will not end because we will always be sisters.

[00:25:17]I want to thank the Commonwealth Attorney's Office for their commitment to pursuing justice. To the members of the jury for their time, care, and responsibility they took in reaching their verdict.

[00:25:28]to the Fairfax County Police Department for their dedication to seeking the truth and for honoring my sister and Joseph Ryan's life through your work. To the victim services team for their compassion, care, and support they have shown my family going above and beyond for us during an unimaginable time. And thank you, your honor, for your commitment to fairness throughout this trial, for your patience today, and for allowing me this opportunity to share a small glimpse of who Christine was, what she meant to me and my family, and how her loss has profoundly shaped and will continue to shape my life.

[00:26:04]>> Thank you.

[00:26:05]>> Please answer any questions that Mr. Carol may have.

[00:26:07]>> Any cross examination?

[00:26:08]>> No, your honor.

[00:26:10]>> Thank your next witness, >> judge. The next witness is going to be Deardra Fischer who is appearing virtually.

[00:26:24]Ma'am, can you hear us?

[00:26:27]>> Um, yes, I can.

[00:26:28]>> All right.

[00:26:30]Can you raise your right hand?

[00:26:32]You swear affirm to tell the truth and a penalty of law.

[00:26:36]>> Yes.

[00:26:36]>> Okay. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Miss Fischer, could you please state your name for the record in the court?

[00:26:42]My name is Deerra Morin Fischer.

[00:26:45]>> And your relationship to Joseph Ryan.

[00:26:48]>> I was Joseph Ryan's mother.

[00:26:51]>> And do you have a statement that you would like to read um describing the impact of Joe's loss in your life?

[00:26:58]>> I would. Yes. Thank you.

[00:27:00]>> Please go ahead.

[00:27:02]First, I'd like to say um I I wish I could be present in court today, but for medical reasons, I have been unable to attend the trial.

[00:27:15]But in mystead, my sister Grace Fischer Litner is here and has been for the whole trial and uh my cousin um Jan Gillis. So, I thank them both for being here.

[00:27:33]Uh, for Joe and for myself.

[00:27:37]Um, and I'd like to thank the honorable judge Penny S. Asceratis and this courtroom um, for allowing me to give a victim statement today for my beloved son, Joseph Nathan Ryan.

[00:28:01]I would like to speak about the impact of losing Joe, his brutal murder, the trial, that the murder and cruel false claim that Joe himself was a murderer.

[00:28:21]Most importantly, I want to speak about the type of man Joe was.

[00:28:28]When I had Joe, I was just 16.

[00:28:32]I did not have financial, legal, or physical ability to raise my son despite being discounted as his mother.

[00:28:46]I fought for the right to see him and prevailed as a loving part of his life.

[00:28:56]Joe became old enough by the age of 14 to pursue a closer relationship with me.

[00:29:04]He told me at one point I was the reason he learned how to love unconditionally.

[00:29:12]I spent holidays and vacations with Joe.

[00:29:17]He called me often.

[00:29:19]Our closeless closelessness spanned the rest of his lifetime.

[00:29:28]I was the last person he called the night before he was brutally murdered.

[00:29:36]He sent me a photo of himself that night.

[00:29:41]It was the last time I got to hear the word mom.

[00:29:48]I got a call about his murder two days after it occurred.

[00:29:57]As in life, in death, Joe was taken from me over and over again.

[00:30:07]The lead detective explained he had not been told I was Joe's mother.

[00:30:17]He was compassionate and I would go on to include and go on to include me as he did and the defense team in updates about the murder investigation and legal process.

[00:30:34]When he gave me the horrible news that my baby had been murdered, taken from me again, I let out a primal scream.

[00:30:47]I cried.

[00:30:50]From that night on, I have felt the deepest loss I could ever experience.

[00:31:00]My only child was gone.

[00:31:04]But the nightmares and pain were only just the beginning.

[00:31:12]Over these more than three years since Joe's murder, my life has been filled with continued loss and with emotional and medical and financial trauma.

[00:31:28]I have not been able to function normally.

[00:31:33]I have navigated a barrage of emergency room calls, doctor's appointments, and hospital stays and surgeries.

[00:31:44]I have spent spent a great deal of time not able to function or care for myself at home.

[00:31:54]a direct result of the murder and devastating trial that ensued. I developed a heart condition and ulcers just last month. Well, it would be a few more now. I had my toe amputated after not being able to fully grasp the pain that I needed to seek prompt medical care.

[00:32:24]That also means the medical bills piled up again and working became nearly impossible.

[00:32:35]Would I have experienced such severe trauma without the brutal loss of Joe?

[00:32:42]Certainly not.

[00:32:45]When Joe was alive, he would fly or drive to care for me. And when I needed and it included cancer twice, he was there.

[00:33:00]That brings me to the next thing I want to talk about who Joe really was.

[00:33:12]Brandon Banfield, his defense team, even some of the press carelessly characterized Joe as the intruder, the fetish guy into rough sex, the rapist and the murderer, or simply the other forgettable guy.

[00:33:43]Not even showing Joe's face during the murder trial.

[00:33:50]Joe was chosen because Brendan Banfield thought he would make a good dupe to be framed for the planned murder of his wife.

[00:34:04]As with so many other things, Brendan was wrong.

[00:34:10]In some ways, my son was flawed. Regular Joe, but he also had some amazing qualities.

[00:34:19]Joe was extremely caring.

[00:34:22]He lived with his grandmother and was dedicated to her health and her well-being.

[00:34:29]He moved to Florida to care for his parental grandfather, Pap before he died from advanced dementia.

[00:34:39]He went for two months to care for a woman he loved who had radical hyerectomy.

[00:34:47]Also taking care of her young daughter.

[00:34:51]That's part of who Joe was.

[00:34:55]Joe was a guy who believed in fighting for the underdog and even actual neglected dogs.

[00:35:08]He would walk into an animal shelter and ask for the oldest, ugliest dogs, bring them home, and love them for years.

[00:35:21]When Joe was murdered, he left behind a dog named Kitty who waited for him at the top of the stairs.

[00:35:36]Joe also did things like gardening, feeding stray cats, teaching autistic kids to do jiujitsu, and working at a homeless shelter.

[00:35:51]He believed that those with less should be fairly treated and supported, that black and brown people should not be marginalized.

[00:36:05]Joe also was a feminist.

[00:36:10]He spoke out about the mistreatment of women during the start of the MeToo movement.

[00:36:18]Although he was chosen as a scapegoat from a website that is considered fetish, he was on that site to find a consenting partner because he believed in a woman's right to bodily autonomy and in her control over her romantic and sexual life.

[00:36:49]Joe wasn't dis the disposable caricature caricature he was made out to be. He had a face.

[00:37:00]He had a name. He had a life.

[00:37:06]But Brendan Banfield shot his face.

[00:37:12]soiled his name and treated his life as disposable.

[00:37:20]My son was a kind human being who had a full life of meaning. In contrast, Brendan will remain known as an abusive father, the brutal murderer of his dedicated and compassionate beautiful wife and a narcissistic killer of an innocent man.

[00:37:53]My son's legacy is one of selfless love, while Brandon's is one of senseless evil.

[00:38:05]I have never directly spoken to Brendan, and I won't today.

[00:38:11]To me, he's nothing more than what I just said.

[00:38:18]But Joe, yes, Joe was someone, someone to me, he was my baby boy, my biggest supporter, and the man I think was pretty special and never forgettable.

[00:38:41]Thank you so much for letting me say this out loud and share some of my love for Joe and the loss I felt I will always feel.

[00:38:56]He was part of me and I will never get that back. But I will choose to live in his fighting spirit and with his voice in my head.

[00:39:12]Be kind to yourself, Mom.

[00:39:16]Take better care of yourself, Mom.

[00:39:21]Love you, Mom.

[00:39:25]I won't forget you, Joe.

[00:39:29]I hear you now.

[00:39:33]Thank you.

[00:39:35]>> Thank you. Please answer any questions of Mr. Carol.

[00:39:37]>> Any cross-examination? All right. No cross-examination. Thank you, Miss Fischer. Your next witness.

[00:39:42]>> Thank you, >> judge. The next witness that I have is Sangita Ryan.

[00:39:47]>> All right.

[00:40:00]You swear in case >> Hi, my name is Sangita Ryan and I am the aunt of the young man I met as a preschooler with a giant backpack and a tiny pink purse who It was called Joey Nathan Ryan.

[00:40:32]>> And do you have um some testimony to share about the what the loss of Joe has meant to your family?

[00:40:39]>> I do.

[00:40:39]>> Please go ahead.

[00:40:43]>> Hello, Honorable Judge Oscar, members of the Fairfax County team, members of the gallery, our family, Christine's family, friends, and members of the press.

[00:40:54]We are Joe's family. We're the people he loved, and we loved him.

[00:40:59]With the exception of speaking once at Miss Perez Magalier's sentencing, we have remained silent since this tragedy devastated our family three years ago.

[00:41:12]Judge, we thank you for listening to our words back in February.

[00:41:16]We chose silence out of respect for law law enforcement, for the Commonwealth, and for Christine's family whose loss is beyond un beyond imagination.

[00:41:28]Christine was taken by the very person she trusted to build a life with and raise a child with. We also remained silent because Joe and Christine were not only taken from us on February 24th, 2023, but we were but were repeatedly disrespected by the defendants's calculated lies.

[00:41:51]Let me be absolutely clear. This was not a moment of weakness, confusion, or loss of control.

[00:41:59]This was a deliberate, planned act carried out by someone who believed he could outsmart the system and escape accountability.

[00:42:08]And even after taking two lives, the defendant continued lying to investigators, lying to the courtyard, lying to his child and her family, and attempting to manipulate anyone who would listen. What we witnessed was not remorse. It was arrogance. It was a sustained effort to rewrite reality in order to protect himself. That matters because it shows exactly who he is. He didn't just take Joe and Christine from us. He tried to erase the truth of who they were and in doing so inflicted further harm on the people who loved them. This crime did not just take Joe's life. It took his place in the world. It took a son, a grandson, a brother, a cousin, a friend, a caregiver. He took my nephew Joe on purpose and left devastation.

[00:43:06]Every day we see the impact of that loss. Joe's grandmother, Connie, who raised him from the time he was just days old, now lives with a grief that has only deepened in time. She was there for every milestone of his life. His childhood, his school years, his prom, his first car, his growth into adulthood.

[00:43:25]And in return, as Joder said, Joe was there for her. He built his life around caring for his grandparents and making sure they were never alone. Since his passing, her health has declined. She's not here today. The absence of Joe is not abstract. It is constant, visible, and devastating.

[00:43:47]Joe was a kind and loving person. He was funny. He believed in the goodness of others. He was a friend, a caretaker, and someone who brought light into the lives of those around him. He is deeply loved. He's remembered. He mattered, and he still does.

[00:44:04]The only solace we hold on to is this.

[00:44:06]Love endures. It lives in the stories we tell, in the way we carry Joe with us, and in how we choose to live our lives moving forward.

[00:44:15]Today we speak and today we find our voices and today our silence ends. We will spend our days and our lives saying Joe's name. We will carry forward his kindness, his goofiness, his love, and his spirit. His absence will always be felt. His chair will remain empty at our gatherings, but his presence will never truly love leave us.

[00:44:39]We do not forgive. This wasn't an accident. This was a calculated decision followed by a deliberate and ongoing attempt to evade responsibility and distort the truth.

[00:44:52]Today, we take back Joe and Christine's memory from the lies, from the manipulation, and from the men who thought he could control their story even after taking their lives. He no longer controls anything. We leave here with our heads high, not in silence, but with purpose. We will honor Joe and Christine by living with the same kindness and love that they gave so freely freely. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be Joe's voice and Christine's voice. And thank you for the service, your service to the community, Judge as Karate, as you approach your retirement. May we all find a way to love more deeply and bring more kindness into the world. Thank you from the Ryan family. Thank you. Please answer any questions, Mr. Carol. No cross examination here.

[00:45:38]>> All right, you can have a seat. Thank you. All right, your next witness.

[00:45:43]>> That was my last witness. All right, come evidence. Does the defense have any evidence?

[00:45:47]>> There you are.

[00:45:47]>> All right, argument.

[00:45:49]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:45:59]>> Judge, I want to be clear what we're asking for today before I begin the meat of my argument. We're asking for a life sentence to serve in FE2024666 count one. Um, as we know, the imposition of two life sentences is not available given the two parts of the statute that we are working with. So, I want to be clear that that is what we're asking the court to go forward on and why. Um, and I'm also asking the court to obviously impose the three years that is required um by count five in that same case number. And in FE2024873 count one, I'm asking you to sentence him to five years and not suspend any of that.

[00:46:39]Judge Brendan Banfield planned and carried out the executions of two innocent victims, his wife Christine and Joe Ryan, a stranger to him. He planned their murders over several months, enlisting the help of his codefendant and affair partner Juliana Perez Magyah.

[00:46:58]He planned ruthless and brutal killings, shooting Joe in the head, stabbing Christine in the neck over and over again and instructing Juliana to shoot Joe a second time. He manipulated the crime scene and lied about the circumstances of their deaths, painting Joe as a violent intruder when he had hand selected Joe as his second victim, posing as Christine online looking for someone with whom to act out a rape fantasy outside of her marriage. And neither version is at all close to the truth. They are lies. Christine was a daughter, a sister, a mother, a nurse, and a friend. Her parents, her sister, her co-workers and friends told you about Christine and how much she matters to them in their lives. Joe was a son, a brother, a grandson, an uncle, a cousin, and a devoted animal lover. His mom, Dearra, and his Ryan family members told you how much he matters to them in their lives. These families won't be able to celebrate obvious joyous milestones like graduations, weddings, holiday celebrations with Christine and Joe.

[00:48:01]It's important for us to remember the intangible moments that these families have lost as well. Christine was murdered before her daughter started kindergarten. Christine is never going to take a first day of school picture with her daughter. She's never going to attend field day or chaperon a field trip. Christine will never know what activities her daughter loves. Will she play soccer? Be on a summer swim team?

[00:48:23]Will she play an instrument? Be a theater kid? Will she be an artist?

[00:48:27]Christine won't be here to know any of that. Christine won't be here to offer her daughter opportunities to help her find what she loves. And Valerie won't have her mother's guidance and love as she navigates the question of who she is. Joe is loved and cherished by his family, and they endured a false narrative portraying Joe to be a violent criminal. He was a loving caretaker in his family. He cared for his grandpa, his grandma, and his mom, uprooting himself selflessly to be closer to them as they needed him. He loved and cared for neglected and abused animals. He was single when he was murdered. He won't get married. He won't become a father.

[00:49:02]He won't create his own family, and he won't create any new memories with the family he has here today. Banfield and his codefendant are the causes of the immeasurable loss suffered by Christine and Joe's families. There is nothing that can lessen their devastation.

[00:49:18]Nothing we can do or say will bring Joe and Christine back to their families.

[00:49:22]This sentencing ends the in court process, but it is not an end to anyone's grief. For all of these reasons, I am asking you to impose every minute of active incarceration that the law requires and that the law allows.

[00:49:35]The sun should never shine on Mr. Banfield's skin as a free man again.

[00:49:40]>> Thank you, Mr. President. Argument, Mr. Car.

[00:49:50]Your honor, there's recognition on the part of the defense that the jury verdict leaves very little um room for discretion, but there are some areas that I would like to argue with relating to the Comwalth's argument as well as the uh narrative that's been presented.

[00:50:04]The Comwalth pursued a theory of catfishing for years, judge, while having the answers within their grasp of the digital forensics examiner. uh besi behind the scenes police officers were trying to change the expert opinion and detective Miller to his credit resisted.

[00:50:20]In fact, this executive summary that he testified to remain the same except for one new fact, the changed testimony of the codefendant.

[00:50:28]Tomolf made a significant effort to diminish the role that divid digital forensics plays in these and other investigations.

[00:50:36]They never called their witness in for the Commonwealth case and the strategy paid off because the jury saw this as credibility determination between the codefendant and my client.

[00:50:47]That was a much easier question for them to answer instead of the difficulties of parsing through the digital evidence and other scientific evidence.

[00:50:56]By making it about credibility, there was no need to resolve such questions such as if the codefendant did not know how to log into the suspect accounts, who accessed Christine Banfield's laptop on at least 10 occasions when Brenda Banfield was nowhere near the home or the device in question.

[00:51:14]Second question, how did Christine Banfield not discover the two-factor authentication on her personal cell phone that the codefendant testified that she secured surreptitiously from Christine Banfield and then put it back?

[00:51:27]And finally, with regard to digital forensics, how was this plan, according to the codefendant executed on February 23rd, the night before the murder with Christine's laptop while within minutes Christine was accessing her work and also shopping? The qu those questions remain, judge, and those uh were incumbent upon uh the jury to resolve.

[00:51:52]With regard to the bloodstain pattern analysis by making the credibility of the codivant versus Brendan the issue, there was no need to resolve questions such as why did Joe Ryan have an injury to his hand that would have held the knife? This was corroborated by the medical examiner.

[00:52:10]Why was Joe Ryan's DNA found under Christine Banfield's fingernails?

[00:52:16]Why was Brendan Banfield's DNA not present in any of the certificates of analysis of re of relevance? And why were there no fingerprints in Brendan Banfield?

[00:52:25]With clear evidence that Joe Ryan supplied the knife, why was it not considered that Joe's DNA was at the juncture of the blade of the knife and the handle and that Brendan Banfields was not present on that item?

[00:52:43]Why was it not considered that Joe Ryan hit Brendan on his back after being shot? And the blood analysis show analysis shows it was Christine Banfield's blood indicative of Christine bleeding at the hands of J Joe Joe Joe Ryan.

[00:53:00]And ultimately, judge, why did we not hear from the Fairfax PD regarding who Joe Ryan was or other officers in terms of the Commonwealth's case?

[00:53:12]The codefendant even in her testimony and numerous times before that indicated that she never saw Brendan touch Joe Ryan's body.

[00:53:23]Your honor, the jury has spoken and we must live with the finding and my client is prepared to be sentenced while these and many other questions remain. Thank you.

[00:53:32]>> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Right, Mr. Banfield, if you could stand, sir.

[00:53:45]Sir, is there anything you wish to say at this time before sinus is imposed?

[00:53:49]>> Yes.

[00:53:50]>> Okay.

[00:53:54]>> 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. I was found guilty of a crime that I did not commit. It is actually impossible to have committed the crime as the prosecution, their experts, and their witnesses have presented.

[00:54:14]The prosecution and their witnesses statements do not match the evidence. My rights to defend my family has been taken away, to defend my home and myself. This is a protected right that I'm sure everyone listening here knows they have. My right has been discarded.

[00:54:30]I'm being sentenced on an impossible set of circumstances. The prosecution's catfish theory was forced into detectives. Detectives did not agree with the catfish theory and were harassed, belittled, and then transferred out of their department unwillingly. Three different digital forensic experts agreed there was no catfish.

[00:54:49]This includes Fairfax detective detective Miller uh their expert. This is a quote from his report.

[00:54:58]The event spanned over over a 46-day period from 1 1923 to 22423.

[00:55:04]There's no indication that Christine lost control of her devices during that time. Christine is also active with these related uh specificities to to her during around the relevant times. 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 although although the not detailed sorry Um, 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. Holly 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 this during this time.

[00:56:29]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 fetife accounts.

[00:56:45]She did not even know the name of the of the email account. How could she have accessed it without any of that without any of that information?

[00:56:55]Juliana claimed that she wrote messages but could not identify a single message that she wrote. Juliana said that the Gmail was created on the laptop when it was created on the phone. Then said that it that there was that I deleted the two-factor authentification which was never which was never deleted never hidden was still there.

[00:57:15]The te the telegram application was also not hidden always available on Christine's laptop.

[00:57:22]It was never uninstalled and reinstalled and was always available.

[00:57:28]When Juliana was questioned about the email account, this is her quote.

[00:57:33]I was not the one logging in. It was Brendan who accessed the email. The question was then restated and resent and said again, and this is her second quote, "I was not the one logging in."

[00:57:46]The email account was accessed approximately 10 times while I was not home. This includes when I was in Maryland at a at Fletsie, a secure government facility that required approx that required an appointment and ID verification to enter.

[00:58:04]If Juliana 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.

[00:58:16]There are also two instances where neither Juliana or I were home with the with the login. This includes the morning of 2:24 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 culde-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.

[00:58:47]There is no dispute that Joe Ryan brought the knife to my home. My DNA and fingerprints are not on the knife. Joe Ryan's DNA is on the knife, right at the junction of the handle and the blade.

[00:59:00]The DNA is right where you would expect it to be for someone who is forcefully using the knife. This is further verified by the injury that is on Joe's on Joe's thumb in his hand. The medical examiner verified the injury on Joe's on Joe's thumb could be could be caused by the knife. There are no injuries to my hands. Nothing to indicate I ever held the knife. Joe's DNA is also under Joe Ryan's fingernails.

[00:59:28]Sorry. Joe's DNA is also under Christine's fingernails, indicating that she tried to fight him off.

[00:59:36]Joe Ryan's have hands have a mixture of Joe's and Christine's DNA. When he got when he got back up and struck me in the back, it was transferred to the back of my jacket. Juliana's original statement on 224 stated that I never touched Joe.

[00:59:51]She repeated this both again in both of her propers and at trial. 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.

[01:00:06]Juliana wrote said that I poured blood on Joe. This does not match the findings of the medical examiner or the blood spatter expert who described that these were transfers and were not and were not his droplets.

[01:00:21]Chris Christine obtained tickets to the zoo and sent them to Juliana. There was no prompting for this. Christine wrote the zoo on the calendar and in Juliana's schedule. Only Christine could have planned the meeting on 224.

[01:00:35]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 224 224. She had only requested off from work on February 23rd and had not informed anybody else that she was off until then.

[01:01:02]The Fairfax County Police Department never never truly looked into Joe Ryan.

[01:01:06]No search warrant was ever conducted at Joe's residence. Only two women were interviewed uh about their relations with Joe and both found that that they were very uncomfortable with him. Both chose not to see him again. One was so uncomfortable that that she went to her therapist the next day. These are her quotes.

[01:01:29]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.

[01:01:41]Only one of Joe I believe only one of Joe's friends was also interviewed.

[01:01:46]He stated that in a confirmation that in a confrontation Joe would choke or strangle somebody. This matches Joe's social media profile saying that he studied neck snapping at Harvard.

[01:01:59]And to add to that, where was Christine stabbed? In the neck, which Joe seems to have a a fondness for.

[01:02:11]These things these things are some of the are some of quotes from other people, not from me.

[01:02:21]Joe Joe had previously also cut another woman. It's in his own messages, in his own words that he was that that he was attracted to that.

[01:02:37]Separately, there's entire internal affairs videos about this case.

[01:02:45]So either either Detective Bryant or Lieutenant Gachio is lying based on what they said at trial because Lieutenant Giao declined denied saying that uh Juliana was was arrested as an innocent.

[01:03:04]Meanwhile, Detective Bryant said that that was brought up to him by Gatio uh in in his internal affairs video. Both of them are both of them are under oath.

[01:03:15]So, one of them would be uh committing a Giglio violation.

[01:03:21]Also, Detective Nielsen uh stated that Juliana was arrested to get her to flip and there was no other reason provided.

[01:03:36]You know, Christine was a wonderful and loving person, just as you heard from many of the people here. She was a a loving and con and compassionate nurse during COVID. She volunteered to take care of to take care of many of the people that were sick and struggling.

[01:03:54]She signed up for extra shifts. She signed up for vaccination clinics.

[01:03:58]She cared for her daughter. She went she enrolled her in dance lessons. She was there for for recital.

[01:04:08]I loved her very much. 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.

[01:04:18]There was no It was told to other women that I was never going to leave Christine.

[01:04:25]That was always that was always how it was said.

[01:04:32]Christine cared very much for her family and friends.

[01:04:37]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, caring wife, loving nurse.

[01:04:56]But I am not respon I am not responsible for her death. This is not a knife that I ever held in my hand.

[01:05:02]and I never stabbed her.

[01:05:06]Thank you.

[01:05:08]>> 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. They found you guilty of count four of 2024 666 aggravated murder of two people within a three-year period. Count five of 2024 666 use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and count one of 2024 873 child endangerment. 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 aggra aggravated murder, which will be count one of 2024 666.

[01:05:48]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. You should understand you were found guilty of crimes that five short years ago would have carried the sentence of death. That reflects the severity of your crimes and your actions.

[01:06:11]Life in prison is a punishment reserved for a very small number of individuals.

[01:06:16]Those whom the commun community has determined should never walk free again.

[01:06:20]It is a harsh sentence, but in this case, it is a justified one. In the 18 years I've been on the bench, I have seen hundreds of defendants appear before me, and I have had the arduous task of sentencing these individuals. 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. Sentencing in those cases is difficult. It weighs on me, often long after the hearing is over. Only two times prior to today have I encountered something different in my courtroom. Two individuals that carried no remorse, calculated and planned their violent crimes and left many victims and devastation in their path. As I listen to the evidence in this case and listen to your testimony, it is apparent that I am once again looking at that same kind of evil. The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable.

[01:07:19]scheming for months a master plan involving so many moving parts including deception and manipulation manipulation.

[01:07:26]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. You did not just take her mother from her. You placed her in the middle of the horror you created. She is young now, but one day she will understand your true self.

[01:07:48]and she will understand what you took from her, which is everything. 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. All of this is lost based on your calculated and selfish behavior. 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 codefendant to shoot him again. 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 and then to see you over her stabbing her again and again with a knife in her neck. Her final realization that this was all you're doing and in her final moments thinking of her daughter. The sentence I impose today reflects not only the law but the judgment of the community. The jury did not find your you credible on the stand.

[01:08:41]To testify as you did shows the court that you still think that you are the smartest person in the room. One would hope that someday you will become tortured by what you have done to Christine, Joe, Christine's daughter, and their families. But nothing I have seen suggests that you will. The level of cruelty, calculation, and inhumity 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.

[01:09:09]On count one of 2024666 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.

[01:09:22]On count five of 2024 666 use of a firearm the commission of a felony. I sentence you to three years in the penitentiary, which is a mandatory term and cannot be suspended. Since it is required by statute, an additional six 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. On count one of 2024 873 child endangerment, I sentence you to 5 years in the penitentiary.

[01:09:47]Since it is required by statute, an additional six 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. Car?

[01:10:08]>> Any questions?

[01:10:08]>> No, your honor, but the Commonwealth does have one additional request, if I may.

[01:10:12]>> Yes, ma'am.

[01:10:13]>> The Commonwealth is asking that a condition of the sentence be that the defendant have no contact with his daughter, Valerie. This is at the request of her guardian, Enlightam, her therapist, and her counsel. I understand, but I'm not doing any probation. So, how can I do a no contact order?

[01:10:28]>> Judge, I think with the uh six months of postrelease, same action. Even though there is no likelihood of those six months ever being imposed, they are suspended on the condition as required by statute. This condition would operate similarly, >> but that would only work for those sentences. Correct.

[01:10:46]>> That is correct.

[01:10:47]>> I mean, I can't order him no contact if I'm giving him life in prison.

[01:10:51]>> Understood, judge. I'm making the request. All right. I just I deny that request. Thank you. All right. Mr. Banfield, you have the right to appeal a decision of this court. You must note your appeal within 30 days the final order of this case. Uh it is my understanding that Mr. Carol will not represent you on appeal. Is that correct, Mr. Carol? All right. So, sir, Mr. Banfield, do you wish to hire your own attorney or have the court appoint you an attorney?

[01:11:15]>> Uh hasn't been decided.

[01:11:16]>> Appoint. Well, I what I'll go ahead and appoint an attorney for you now. If later on you decide to hire your own attorney, you can do that. Okay, sir.

[01:11:23]>> Sure.

[01:11:24]>> All right. Since Mr. Carol told me of his intentions in advance, my clerk was able to find an appellet courtapp appointed attorney who is willing and able to take your case. So, the court appoints Brandon Sloan as your appellet attorney. Uh, the court ordered transcripts of the trial back in May.

[01:11:37]So, those should be available now for your attorney to review. So, there should be no delay in your appeal. Okay, Mr. Sloan, I'm sure we'll come see you in the next few days. All right, sir.

[01:11:45]>> Yes.

[01:11:46]>> All right. Is there anything further in this matter? All right. You're a man of the custody of the sheriff.

[01:11:51]>> Thank you. And Miss Gil, I'm going to take a 10-minute recess and I'll come back and finish the rest of the sentencing docket. Okay. All right.

[01:11:56]Anything further, Miss Court will be in recess.