Overview
- Juliana Peres Magalhães was sentenced on Friday to the statutory maximum of 10 years for involuntary manslaughter in Fairfax County, Virginia.
- She pleaded guilty to the killing of Joseph Ryan and testified that she and IRS agent Brendan Banfield used fake fetish-site profiles to lure him to the Banfield home under a BDSM pretext.
- Magalhães told jurors Banfield fatally stabbed his wife, Christine, and shot Ryan before she fired a second shot at Ryan; prosecutors said the couple’s 4-year-old child was in the home.
- Judge Penney S. Azcarate rejected prosecutors’ recommendation of time served, calling the case the most serious involuntary manslaughter the court had seen and condemning Magalhães’s actions as deliberate and selfish.
- A jury earlier found Banfield guilty of two counts of aggravated homicide, a firearms offense, and child endangerment, while his defense challenged Magalhães’s credibility and her delayed cooperation.