The long-awaited trial for a Herndon man accused of orchestrating the killings of his wife and another man has been postponed once again.
Brendan Banfield’s trial is now scheduled to begin Jan. 13, with Fairfax Circuit Court Chief Judge Penney S. Azcarate granting a continuance in court yesterday (Wednesday). The trial had been been scheduled to start Oct. 20 (Monday), having been previously continued earlier this year.
Banfield’s legal team, led by John F. Carroll of Fairfax firm Carroll Nuttall, sought the continuance. Carroll did not respond to an inquiry about why he sought the continuance by press time, though a previously-issued judicial order has limited contact with the news media.
Banfield, 40, faces seven felony charges — including four counts of aggravated murder — in relation to the killings, which occurred at the Banfield home in the Floris area south of Herndon on Feb. 24, 2023.
That morning, police responded to the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way after a report that Christine Banfield — Brendan Banfield’s wife — had been stabbed inside the residence by an intruder, who had then been shot by Brendan Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the family’s live-in au pair.
Christine Banfield was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The alleged intruder, Joseph Ryan, was pronounced dead at the scene.
In court, prosecutors have claimed that Banfield orchestrated the scheme to kill his wife while having an affair with Peres Magalhaes.
The prosecution, led by Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan, has said that Banfield and Peres Magalhaes impersonated Christine Banfield on FetLife — a website used to organize fetish-related encounters — in order to lure Ryan to the house.
Ryan, who was a 39-year-old Springfield resident, was seemingly invited in order to be framed for the murder of Christine Banfield, prosecutors have claimed, allowing Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhaes to argue that they shot Ryan in self-defense.
“Brendan Banfield stabbed Christine Banfield and Peres Magalhaes followed the rest of the plan at his urging … Peres Magalhaes returned to the bedroom, and saw Joseph Ryan moving, and shot him,” court documents said.
Peres Magalhaes was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in October 2023. She pleaded guilty to the amended charge of manslaughter in October 2024 under an agreement that would allow her to be sentenced to time served before being deported to her native Brazil — so long as she cooperates with the county’s case against Banfield.
Banfield was indicted in September 2024 on the murder charges. Prosecutors later charged Banfield with child neglect and cruelty to reflect that the family’s then-4-year-old daughter was in the home at the time of the incident.
If convicted, Banfield faces life in prison. Virginia no longer has the death penalty, with lawmakers having abolished it in 2021.
With Banfield’s trial being continued to next year, the Dec. 19 sentencing hearing for Peres Magalhaes is also expected to be rescheduled.
