The Au Pair Walked Free. Brendan Banfield Got Life. Here's What the Defense Never Explained.
The Au Pair Walked Free. Brendan Banfield Got Life. Here's What the Defense Never Explained.  
Podcast: Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
Published On: Sun Feb 08 2026
Description: Juliana Peres Magalhães testified that she watched Brendan Banfield stab his wife Christine. She admitted to helping stage the crime scene. She called 911 with him standing next to her.She walked out of court with time served on a manslaughter plea.Brendan Banfield is going to prison for the rest of his life.The jury deliberated nine hours. Guilty on every count. Aggravated murder. No compromises. No mercy. Twelve people heard the defense call Juliana bought and paid for—and convicted him anyway.Defense attorney Bob Motta breaks down what went wrong.The fundamental problem: the defense told jurors what didn't happen, but never told them what did. Banfield's DNA wasn't on the murder weapon. The digital forensics fight went nowhere. They attacked Juliana's credibility from every angle. But attacking a cooperating witness only works if you give the jury an alternative story.The defense never did.Then Banfield took the stand. A former IRS special agent who spent his career inside the system, apparently confident he could beat it. He told jurors that "no reasonable person" would kill their wife over a six-week affair with the au pair.They gave him life without parole.Bob identifies the moment this case was probably lost. He explains why putting Banfield on the stand may have sealed his fate. And he addresses the appeal grounds already taking shape—the cooperating witness deal, suppressed digital evidence, and a recent Virginia Supreme Court ruling that could matter.Prosecutors argued Banfield and Magalhães catfished Joseph Ryan through the fetish website FetLife, lured him to the house believing he was meeting Christine for a consensual violent encounter, then killed him and framed him for her murder.The jury believed every word.#BrendanBanfield #ChristineBanfield #BanfieldGuilty #JulianaMagalhaes #AuPairTestimony #BobMotta #DefenseStrategy #AggravatedMurder #HiddenKillers #TrueCrimeJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspodInstagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/tonybpodListen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.