WATCH LIVE: 海角精品黑料 will carry a livestream of the sentencing at 11 a.m.
Brendan Banfield is expected to be sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole, in the 2023 “au pair affair” murders in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Banfield was convicted in February of two counts of aggravated murder in the killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, and another man, Joseph Ryan.
Aggravated murder became after former Gov. Ralph Northam abolished the death penalty in 2021. It carries a mandatory life sentence.
Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, conspired with his family鈥檚 au pair to kill his wife and pin it on a stranger.
He was also found guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a felony and child endangerment, as his 4-year-old child was home during the killings.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Chief Judge Penney Azcarate, who presided over Banfield’s trial, will impose the sentence.
Before sentencing, prosecutors plan to call three witnesses who will provide victim impact statements.
The ‘au pair affair’
During the trial, prosecutors told the jury Banfield was in love with his family鈥檚 Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalh茫es, and that the two staged an elaborate scheme to lure Joseph Ryan to the home to get rid of Banfield鈥檚 wife, Christine, and blame her killing on Ryan.
According to the prosecution and Magalh茫es, who testified against Banfield after taking a plea deal, Banfield and the au pair created an account on a fetish website impersonating Christine and lured Ryan to the home with promises of rough sex.
During her two days of testimony, Magalh茫es detailed her sexual relationship with Banfield, his desire to 鈥済et rid of his wife鈥� and the plan he developed to do so.
Magalh茫es was initially charged with murder in October 2023, eight months after the killings and nearly a year before Banfield himself was charged.
With her trial date nearing, Magalh茫es accepted a plea deal, in which her charge was downgraded to manslaughter. In February, after testifying against her former lover, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in the double murder.
海角精品黑料’s Thomas Robertson contributed to this report.聽
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