Trial set for Virginia husband indicted in double homicide of wife, another man

HERNDON, Va. - The trial for Brendan Banfield, a Virginia man accused of killing his wife and another man at the married couple's Fairfax County home, has been scheduled for February 3 of next year.

A grand jury indicted Banfield on the charge of aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan. He was also charged with one count of felony firearm use.

Thursday was a "term day" in Fairfax County court, meaning cases that were indicted this month would be assigned trial dates. Kush Arora, a criminal defense attorney not affiliated with this case, Banfield could face trial as early as February but the date is subject to change.

"Later is probably more likely. I will tell you in any homicide case or case at this level I have handled, it has been rare that it actually proceeds on the first court date. It’s primarily because the process of discovery that comes from these cases, which is the process where the prosecutors are turning in information and evidence to the defense, takes a long time. It takes time for the defense to respond to the discovery and perhaps conduct their own investigation," Arora explained.

READ MORE: Husband indicted in Virginia double homicide nearly a year after au pair’s arrest

Banfield’s arrest and indictment comes nearly a year after Juliana Peres Magalhães, an au pair caring for the Banfields’ daughter, was charged with second-degree murder in Ryan’s killing.

The killings occurred on February 24, 2023, when police responded to a 911 call at the Banfield residence on Stable Brook Way in Herndon. Following a seven-month investigation, Peres Magalhaes was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Joseph Ryan.

She was in court Thursday as defense attorneys argued she was "unlawfully seized" on the day of the murders and transported from the home to the Fairfax County Police Department without consent or legal authority.

The defense said her statements, searches and seizures of her phone and Apple Watch, along with other evidence collected should be suppressed. Prosecutors said she voluntarily went with authorities on the day of the murders, adding she was not a suspect at the time of the questioning. Rather, she was an "eye or earwitness" to a double homicide.

Officers found Christine Banfield with multiple stab wounds, and Joseph Ryan with gunshot wounds. Ryan was pronounced dead at the scene, while Christine died shortly after being taken to the hospital.

READ MORE: Au pair charged with murder in Herndon double homicide: police

Initially, Brendan Banfield told dispatchers that Ryan had broken into their home, stabbed his wife and that he had shot Ryan in self-defense.

FOX 5 asked whether Arora expects any delays in the upcoming trials given the recent arrest of Banfield.

"Strategically, all parties whether it’s defense counsel for the au pair…Mr. Banfield…or prosecutors will go back and decide whether they want to make motions for something called severance or joinder," he said. "Oftentimes, parties will say they want cases joined with each other so they can be tried together for purposes of judicial economy, meaning because they involve the same witnesses and a lot of the same evidence…and it

might make sense for the court to try them together, strategically speaking. Different parties have different interests and whether or not that should be the case or not be the case."

Banfield is being held without bail at the Fairfax County jail.

The judge is expected to make her decision on the motion to suppress next Thursday at 9 a.m.