Police reassignment at issue in case against Virginia man charged in double-killing

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge has ordered prosecutors to give the defense documentation about the reassignment of a digital forensic examiner who had been working on the case in which a man is accused of plotting with an au pair to kill his wife and another man.

Fairfax Circuit Court Chief Judge Penney Azcarate on Thursday ordered Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan to collect and distribute any documentation of the assignment change to the defense for Brendan Banfield.

Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joe Ryan.

The defense had also sought information on the transfer of the lead detective on the case. But the judge declined.

An attorney for Brendan Banfield alleged in court this week that Fairfax County police commanders had reassigned the two employees who disagreed with the top brass’ analysis of the evidence, particularly a premise that the case involved the husband catfishing one of the victims.

“It is a theory in search of facts rather than a series of facts supporting a theory,” John Carroll, Banfield’s attorney, said in court Thursday.

In court, prosecutors argued officials had given over all the documentation they had in the case to the defense, objecting to notions that personnel transfers were part of criminal case evidence.

Brendan Miller, a digital forensic examiner with the Fairfax County Police Department, testified Thursday that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded Christine Banfield had connected with Ryan through a social networking platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. Miller’s analysis found that the two also chatted through Telegram, an encrypted messaging app. Ryan agreed to come to the house for what appeared to be a consensual sexual encounter.

But Miller’s findings diverged from a theory held by other officials in the department that the messages Ryan was receiving were actually from Brendan Banfield posing as his wife in a ruse to lure Ryan to the Banfields’ home as a scapegoat in a double-killing scheme.

Deputy Chief Patrick Brusch, who oversaw the department’s major crimes bureau at the time, confirmed in testimony that he said Miller would “never be doing another digital forensics case in your major crimes bureau” after he analyzed the evidence.

Miller was transferred out of the department’s digital forensics unit in late 2024, though Brusch testified the reassignment was not punitive or disciplinary. The University of Alabama’s police department peer reviewed and affirmed Miller’s digital forensic findings, according to evidence submitted to the court by Carroll.

In October 2023, the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. She later pleaded guilty to manslaughter in what prosecutors described as a scheme to frame Ryan, a Fairfax County native, in the stabbing of Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse.

The au pair, who authorities said had a romantic affair with Brendan Banfield, agreed to cooperate with officials in their case against him. Brendan Banfield was arrested nearly a year after Magalhães. In a proffer, the au pair backed officials’ belief that the husband was behind the online account in a plot to kill his wife and stage it to look like he and the au pair shot a predator in defense.

On Thursday, Clingan acknowledged there were multiple case theories among officials, but Magalhães’ account narrowed them down to one.

“With 12 different homicide detectives, there were 24 different theories,” Clingan said. “Now, one theory.”

Kyle Bryant, who was the lead detective on the case and was moved off the homicide team earlier this year, testified he faced mounting pressure from higher-ups at the department to support the catfish theory. Bryant testified he followed what he believed the evidence showed.

“Were you ever confronted by command staff about the theory of the case that you disagreed with?” Carroll asked Bryant.

“Yes,” he testified.

Though Judge Azcarate did not find that prosecutors intentionally withheld information about Miller’s transfer, she ordered Clingan to collect and distribute any documentation of the assignment change to the defense. She did not tell prosecutors to hand over documents on Bryant’s transfer.

“The transfer that gives the court pause is Miller’s because it relates to the theory of this case,” the judge said.

Brendan Banfield’s trial is set for October.