A Virginia man who plotted to kill his wife and a random other man with his au pair was sentenced to life in prison Friday. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo
June 5 (UPI) -- Brendan Banfield, a Virginia man convicted of killing his wife and a stranger in a plot with an au pair, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.
"The level of cruelty, calculation and inhumanity 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," CNN reported Judge Penney S. Azcarate said.
Banfield, 40, and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães, 26, were having an affair. They lured a stranger, Joseph Ryan, to participate in a rape fantasy in the couple's home, and when he arrived and startled Christine Banfield, 37, Brendan Banfield shot him and then stabbed his wife to death.
Peres Magalhães, from Brazil, helped him with the plot and watched the killings happen. She accepted a plea deal in 2024 to involuntary manslaughter for her testimony against Brendan Banfield. While the deal was for time served, Azcarate sentenced her to 10 years, the maximum.
