Juliana Magalhães Sentenced: 10 Years In Banfield Case — "May It Weigh Heavily On Your Soul"

She told the truth. She still got the maximum.

Juliana Peres Magalhães stood before Judge Penney Azcarate on Friday expecting to walk out of the Fairfax County courthouse and begin deportation proceedings to Brazil. The prosecution had recommended time served — roughly two years — in exchange for her cooperation in convicting Brendan Banfield of aggravated murder.

Instead, she got ten years.

"You do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done," Azcarate told her. "May it weigh heavily on your soul."

The judge called this "the most serious manslaughter scenario this court has ever seen" and rejected any notion that Juliana was merely a young woman swept up in her employer's manipulation. She detailed the weeks Juliana spent messaging Joe Ryan, knowing she was bringing him to his death. The moment she hung up after Christine Banfield begged her to call 911. And the kill shot she fired into Ryan as he lay moaning on the floor.

"At any point for at least the month prior — or that day — you could have stopped this. The plan did not work without your full involvement."

The victim impact statements were devastating. Joe Ryan's mother, Deirdre Fisher, appeared via video from Florida, describing how she still hasn't taken down her Christmas tree since her son's murder. "I say good morning to him each day when I turn on the tree's lights," she said, "and I tell him I love him each night when I turn off the lights."

Juliana sobbed through her allocution, asking for forgiveness. The judge wasn't moved.

This is the final chapter for Juliana Peres Magalhães in an American courtroom. Brendan Banfield's sentencing comes May 8. The Au Pair Affair ends here.

#AuPairAffair #JulianaMagalhaes #BrendanBanfield #ChristineBanfield #JosephRyan #Sentencing #FairfaxCounty #TrueCrime #JudgeAzcarate #PleaDeal

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