Juliana Peres Magalhães — a Brazilian au pair who developed a romantic relationship with her employer and helped him in a plot that ended with the murders of his wife and a man they lured to the home — was sentenced to 10 years on Friday.
The term went beyond recommendations to the judge that were part of an earlier deal Magalhães had made to plead guilty in the case and testify in her employer’s recent double-murder trial. That deal could have sent her home as soon as Friday.
“You do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done,” Chief Judge Penney Azcarate said from the bench. “May it weigh heavily on your soul.”
Magalhães’s former lover, Brendan Banfield, was found guilty Feb. 2 of aggravated murder in the 2023 killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, and the man who came to the house, Joseph Ryan. Prosecutors showed that Banfield had plotted with Magalhães to impersonate his wife on a sexual fetish website, which lured Ryan to the Banfields’ Northern Virginia home under the pretext of a sexual encounter. The plan, according to prosecutors, was to kill Christine Banfield, kill Ryan and frame him with her murder.
In the chaos of what unfolded, Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and stabbed his wife, and Magalhães shot Ryan a second time. Magalhães was initially charged with Ryan’s murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter — a deal in which prosecutors agreed to recommend she receive a “term-served” sentence. But that recommendation wasn’t binding, leaving the judge with the ability to impose up to 10 years.
“The facts of this case demonstrate an intentional and calculated level of violence that is the most serious manslaughter scenario this court has ever seen,” said Azcarate.
The judge drew attention to how the killing of Ryan played out from Magalhães’s point of view: “Seeing Joseph Ryan — who was shot in the head at that time, still moving — and walking up to him as he lay moaning on the floor and shooting him point blank in the heart.”
Azcarate also spoke about the au pair’s involvement in the plotting.
“You may not have come up with a plan, agreed. And an older man may have groomed you to a point,” the judge said, before listing ways in which Magalhães was an active participant.
That included speaking directly with Ryan, encouraging him to bring a knife “knowing all along you were bringing him to his death.”
“At any point for at least the month prior — or that day — you could have stopped this,” Azcarate added. “The plan did not work without your full involvement.”
Before the sentence was handed down, several people spoke, including Magalhães’s attorney, who said his client’s helpwas key in the conviction of Banfield.
“Until her cooperation, [prosecutors] had only a theory,” said the attorney, Ryan Campbell. “They had circumstantial evidence but no direct evidence. When Juliana finally came forward, she offered that direct evidence.”
“It was Juliana who ultimately told the story firsthand of what occurred,” Campbell added. “That decision was integral in the jury’s decision.”
Brendan Banfield’s convictions carry a mandatory life sentence without parole. His sentencing is scheduled for May 8.
Magalhães spoke in court Friday, crying as she read from a statement. “I hope that my cooperation in this case somehow begins to help repair the damage caused,” she said.
“I have grown so much over the past three years,” she said. “I look back at my younger self, a 22-year-old falling head-over-heels for someone 15 years older, then only seeing his good side and clinging to someone that showed me love. I lost myself in that relationship, leaving my morals and values behind. … I have a burden to carry, knowing I could have prevented it at all from happening.”
Ryan’s mother and an aunt also spoke, telling the judge about their deep affection for him and the complete devastation created by his murder.
“My son’s life was used and thrown away — seen as worthless and utterly disposable,” said his mom, Deirdre Fisher. “Disposable by those who plotted and executed his brutal murder.”
She said there could never really be justice for Ryan’s murder: “What I do hope is that even for a moment that the world and you, judge, will say Joe meant more than nothing, that he was someone worthy of dignity and life.”
Fisher had to halt repeatedly, but gathered herself and continued. She said her son was born two days before Christmas, making that holiday special between them.
“Since Joe’s murder, I haven’t been able to take down my little Christmas tree, which sits behind the urn with his ashes,” she said. “I say good morning to him each day when I turn on the tree’s lights. But of course that’s not Joe sitting there. He can’t say, ‘I love you back.’”
She spoke of how her son helped her through cancer, and how he was her biggest cheerleader.
“I lost my confidant, someone who knew me deeply, listened without judgment, offered advice with my best interests at heart. I lost my biggest ally and my cheerleader,” Fisher said.
Her son had cared for his grandmother and grandfather, something she knew he’d do for her.
“I lost the comfort of knowing that my son would be there to care for me when I’m an old woman with illness or dementia,” Fisher said.
“We feel Joe and Christine were targeted by the worst kind of monsters,” Ryan’s aunt added, “the kind who live among the victims and wait until they’re the most vulnerable.”
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