VA - Joseph Ryan shot, Christine Banfield stabbed, both deceased, in home - Herndon 24 Feb 2023

[Luna20]

I think BB knew he would need help and also wanted JM involved so he could use her as a protection against him.
Good point that having VB there throws shade on them being the murderers.
CB also knowing as her husband was stabbing her and JM was wherever in the room that it is these two people who VB would be left with.
imo

I think he purposely set up JM that way. He needed to point to someone else to blame. He was deceiving her also by involving her. It would have been technically simpler to have JM out of the house with VB, but he was making JM a target for blame.

 

[Inthedetails]

I think he purposely set up JM that way. He needed to point to someone else to blame. He was deceiving her also by involving her. It would have been technically simpler to have JM out of the house with VB, but he was making JM a target for blame.

Maybe, but I get the vibe that he wanted his wife to SEE Juliana as she died, to be humiliated, naked, wounded, and knowing JM would be in her daughter's life instead of her. It's all sooooo depraved and I think a big motive for BB was to hurt his wife emotionally as well as physically. To smear her in the face.

And I kind of think JM wanted to be there.

jmopinion

 

[Luna20]

Maybe, but I get the vibe that he wanted his wife to SEE Juliana as she died, to be humiliated, naked, wounded, and knowing JM would be in her daughter's life instead of her. It's all sooooo depraved and I think a big motive for BB was to hurt his wife emotionally as well as physically. To smear her in the face.

And I kind of think JM wanted to be there.

jmopinion

Yikes, that is really dark. I didn’t get the feeling that BB was angry with CB but he could have been. My thoughts were that he didn’t want to be married to her anymore and that he didn’t want to split their finances.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Court TV Live
Going over today and verdict watch

 

[rescuemom]

Defense seems to be rambling and all over the place in his closing. Makes the CW closing seem better since it was more succinct and easy to follow

His whole case was mess, IMO but then he had little to defend. His whole case was framed around JMs "recant"... that really stuck in his craw like that never happens where there are two or more defendants. She was an opportunist from the get go why stop now.

Defense closing was just more dribble as if he was retrying his case all over again. I thought DA defense team was bad but this one was worse.

Though I saw them as sharp and quick on their feet, neither of the prosecutors dressed professionally. Jurists make up their mind long before the closings, again JMO.

 

[rescuemom]

It's 12:30 on a Friday.

Any predictions on when jury will reach a verdict?

I say Monday.

Today. Guilty.

 

[rescuemom]

Thanks but did Sands address that with the jury in her closing?

Yes

 

[Lawnguylander1964]

I think it will be quick/today.

In the double murder trial I was on, we reached a verdict very quickly. I want to say 2 hours, but I really wasn't looking at the clock and it felt like it went very fast because the 12 of us really worked together and everyone contributed.

 

[Megnut]

I think he purposely set up JM that way. He needed to point to someone else to blame. He was deceiving her also by involving her. It would have been technically simpler to have JM out of the house with VB, but he was making JM a target for blame.

He needed a second person. To alibi himself. To separate himself from fetlife. So he could be at verified places.

That they couldn't nail down who was behind which device exposes the strategy.

JM assisted BB in helping him cover his tracks.

He didn't worry about her turning on him because he was certain LE wouldn't question the scene as he staged it.

Dumb.

JMO

 

[Kellygirl2013]

I think it will be quick/today.

In the double murder trial I was on, we reached a verdict very quickly. I want to say 2 hours, but I really wasn't looking at the clock and it felt like it went very fast because the 12 of us really worked together and everyone contributed.

I was a juror on a murder trial over 30 years ago (also in the DMV area), and while we had made our collective guilty verdict early on (it was also on a Friday I believe when we got the case), we decided to wait till the next day to at least give the appearance that we had been deliberating a lot longer than we actually did. Ì often wonder how common that occurs on juries in what I can best describe as a slam dunk case for the CA.

 

[scoodyboo]

Bosses of BB were not even in VA that day. No meeting.

When BB's attorney was throwing out all of those names to the IRS boss, didn't it seem as though BB was writing these down for him? As if to say, "I did have a meeting scheduled! With all these other people, though." And then his attorney tried to ask another question after the prosecution finished their rebuttal. That had to be BB writing a note.
It's a great example of the grandiosity he displayed throughout his testimony. I'm so important.

I noticed in the defense closing at the end the attorney was reading from a yellow note pad legal sized paper. I feel like all of the last items were BB's words. Especially the 'planting the truth' line. "She was hers!"

 

[Izzylizzy]

When BB's attorney was throwing out all of those names to the IRS boss, didn't it seem as though BB was writing these down for him? As if to say, "I did have a meeting scheduled! With all these other people, though." And then his attorney tried to ask another question after the prosecution finished their rebuttal. That had to be BB writing a note.

I noticed in the defense closing at the end the attorney was reading from a yellow note pad legal sized paper. I feel like all of the last items were BB's words. Especially the 'planting the truth' line. "She was hers!"

I was wondering where Carroll got all that information from and so fast.
Did he previously have all the IRS interviews from Discovery?

 

[Weki]

Maybe, but I get the vibe that he wanted his wife to SEE Juliana as she died, to be humiliated, naked, wounded, and knowing JM would be in her daughter's life instead of her. It's all sooooo depraved and I think a big motive for BB was to hurt his wife emotionally as well as physically. To smear her in the face.

And I kind of think JM wanted to be there.

jmopinion

I think this is not a far-fetched idea at all. He stabbed her in the neck 7 times for goodness sake. That's a lot of rage and contempt. For the woman you spent 20 years with and had a child with? To be able to do that is so depraved. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if he wanted her to see Juliana in the room and know what was happening before she died. Sick!

The prosecution has theorized that his motive was to keep Juliana from leaving him since he was so in love with her. It didn't seem like they had been building on that theory until he testified but I may have missed it earlier in the trial as I was in and out. Some have speculated he wanted Juliana's hands dirty in the murder because he wanted to ensure she wouldn't turn on him but I think he wanted to tie her to him more closely (if you believe the state's theory). I think once these killer spouses decide they want their spouse out of the picture they so thoroughly dehumanize them that they just lose touch with reality. It's a form of psychosis.

JMO

 

[Inthedetails]

Yikes, that is really dark. I didn’t get the feeling that BB was angry with CB but he could have been. My thoughts were that he didn’t want to be married to her anymore and that he didn’t want to split their finances.

He arranged for a stranger to enter their home without her knowledge and rape her. That screams disdain to me, not just getting rid of an unwanted wife.

jmopinion

 

[Izzylizzy]

I was a juror on a murder trial over 30 years ago (also in the DMV area), and while we had made our collective guilty verdict early on (it was also on a Friday I believe when we got the case), we decided to wait till the next day to at least give the appearance that we had been deliberating a lot longer than we actually did. Ì often wonder how common that occurs on juries in what I can best describe as a slam dunk case for the CA.

This jury ends today at 4:30 due to a juror having to leave by then and it as announced by the judge earlier in the week.

Didn't jurors used to deliberate into the night?
All the recent trials I've seen have a cut-off time.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Maybe, but I get the vibe that he wanted his wife to SEE Juliana as she died, to be humiliated, naked, wounded, and knowing JM would be in her daughter's life instead of her. It's all sooooo depraved and I think a big motive for BB was to hurt his wife emotionally as well as physically. To smear her in the face.

And I kind of think JM wanted to be there.

jmopinion

I completely agree. Then to destroy her reputation as well.

 

[Starlight0229]

This jury ends today at 4:30 due to a juror having to leave by then and it as announced by the judge earlier in the week.

Didn't jurors used to deliberate into the night?
All the recent trials I've seen have a cut-off time.

Maybe when they are sequestered? But they weren't originally scheduled to even have court today, they were just making up for days missed due to snow days.