The sentencing hearing for an au pair who pleaded guilty over her role in a 2023 double murder has been rescheduled for later this year.
Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the 24-year-old au pair believed to have shot and killed a Springfield man as part of a plot with a Herndon man who allegedly wanted to get rid of his wife, will now be sentenced on Dec. 19, according to court records.
Magalhaes is expected to be recommended a sentence of time served for an involuntary manslaughter charge, so long as she cooperates with the county’s case against co-defendant Brendan Banfield, Fairfax County Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan said last year.
As a citizen of Brazil, Magalhaes is expected to be deported after her sentencing hearing. With Banfield’s four-week trial scheduled for October, however, Magalhaes would be unable to fulfill her part of a plea agreement if she’s no longer in the U.S.
Banfield faces four counts of aggravated murder among seven total charges, all stemming from the Feb. 24, 2023 murders of his wife, Christine, and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan.
Magalhaes, who was employed as a live-in nanny by the Banfields, was engaged in an extra-marital affair with Brendan Banfield before she was recruited to play a role in the scheme, prosecutors said.
As part of her role, Magalhaes impersonated Christine Banfield in a phone conversation with Ryan, who was lured to the couple’s Stable Brook Way home on Feb. 24, 2023 under the false pretense of a sexual encounter, according to court documents.
Brendan Banfield claimed to police that he believed Ryan was an intruder who had attacked his wife with a knife, leading him to shoot Ryan in self-defense. Magalhaes then fired a second shot at Ryan that killed him, prosecutors said.
Christine Banfield, who suffered multiple stab wounds, was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. According to prosecutors, Brendan Banfield had “expressed … his desire to be rid of his wife and soon thereafter began planning to kill his wife,” as early as the fall of 2022.
Magalhaes was arrested in October 2023 and charged with Ryan’s murder. Brendan Banfield was taken into custody and charged with his wife and Ryan’s murders more than a year later. He also faces charges of using a firearm in the commission of a felony and child abuse.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Chief Judge Penney S. Azcarate, who presided over the 2022 civil trial between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, has been assigned to both cases.
