Editor’s Note: Some people may find the details of this story disturbing. Discretion is advised.
Brendan Banfield, the Northern Virginia man convicted of killing his wife and a stranger in an elaborate plot to be with the family’s au pair, filed notice he will appeal his murder conviction and life sentence.
Banfield’s attorneys filed the notice Friday to the Court of Appeals of Virginia, court records show.
He was sentenced last month to life in prison for aggravated murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and child endangerment.
Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan were killed. Prosecutors said Banfield was having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and testified against her boss-turned-lover, saying they posed as Christine online and lured Ryan to the home, telling him he and the wife would act out a consensual rape fantasy.
A notice of appeal doesn’t contain any argument about why a defendant believes their appeal has merit. A substantive argument in support of an appeal typically comes a few months after the notice is filed.
Brendan testified at his sentencing and said he loved his wife and never stabbed her. He claimed he was defending his home when he opened fire on Ryan.
“My rights to defend my family have been taken away. To defend my home and myself. This is a protective right that I’m sure everyone listening here knows they have, and my right has been discarded,” he said.
Judge Penney Azcarate told Brendan she was looking at evil before she sentenced him to life.
“You should understand you were found guilty of crimes that five short years ago would have carried a sentence of death. That reflects the severity of your crimes and your actions,” Azcarate began.
She said there were only two prior times in her career when she encountered defendants who planned violent crimes with no remorse, leaving victims and devastation in their paths.
“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,” she said.
The Virginia au pair who had an affair with her boss, Brendan Banfield, and helped scheme to kill his wife and a stranger may have a good chance of selling her story amid public interest in true crime. But what’s known as a “Son of Sam” law could limit whether she can cash in. News4’s Erika Gonazlez reports.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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