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An au pair who admitted helping her employer carry out a plot that killed his wife and another man at a Herndon home has been sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison for manslaughter.

Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 25, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge in exchange for testifying against Brendan Banfield, with whom she said she was having an affair. Prosecutors recommended that she be sentenced to time already served because of her cooperation.

Chief Judge Penney Azcarate rejected that recommendation, describing the reduction from a murder charge as “a huge bargain.”

“Your actions were deliberate, self-serving and demonstrated a profound disregard for human life,” Azcarate said during Friday’s sentencing. She told Peres Magalhaes that incarceration and reflection were the only appropriate consequences for what she had done to the victims and their families.

Peres Magalhaes and Banfield were charged in connection with the Feb. 24, 2023, deaths of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields’ home.

Brendan Banfield was later convicted of aggravated murder in both deaths. Peres Magalhaes admitted firing a second shot at Ryan, striking him in the torso.

Campbell told reporters after the hearing that the judge’s rejection of the joint recommendation was not a surprise. He estimated that Peres Magalhaes will serve about 67% of the sentence under Virginia’s rules for good behavior and will receive credit for time already spent in custody. That would leave roughly four more years of active incarceration.

After her release, she will face two years of supervision and must remain in Virginia during that period.

Peres Magalhaes, a Brazilian national who is not a permanent U.S. resident, could also be deported after completing her sentence. Federal immigration officials have requested a detainer, but it cannot be enforced until she is released.

Banfield faces a mandatory life sentence for aggravated murder and is scheduled to be formally sentenced May 8.

The killings and alleged setup

Police were called early on Feb. 24, 2023, to the Banfields’ house in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way in the Floris area south of Herndon.

Banfield and Peres Magalhaes told 911 dispatchers that an intruder had stabbed Christine Banfield. Banfield claimed he then shot Ryan in self-defense.

Ryan, who suffered two gunshot wounds, was pronounced dead inside the house. Christine Banfield was taken to a hospital, where she died.

Prosecutors later accused Banfield and Peres Magalhaes of arranging the fatal encounter through a catfishing scheme intended to end the Banfields’ marriage. Both acknowledged that they had been involved in an extramarital affair.

At Banfield’s trial, Peres Magalhaes testified that she and Banfield, an IRS agent, created an online account using Christine Banfield’s identity. Christine Banfield worked as a pediatric intensive care nurse. The account was placed on a social platform for people interested in sexual fetishes.

Ryan communicated with the account and agreed to come to the home for a sexual encounter involving a knife, according to the testimony.

Peres Magalhaes said she and Banfield took the couple’s 4-year-old child to the basement before entering the bedroom. She testified that she saw Banfield shoot Ryan and stab his wife in the neck. When Ryan began moving, she said, she fired the second shot that killed him.

Banfield was not initially treated as a suspect. Authorities arrested him after his indictment in September 2024. Peres Magalhaes had been arrested in October 2023 and initially charged with second-degree murder.