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

[tricia]

We wil be going live tonight at 10:30 PM Eastern. We'll be updating you on the Guthrie case, the Banfield verdict, and true crime author Caitlin Rother will join us to discuss her new book. We hope you will join us.

 

[Charlot123]

In getting JM to cooperate the CW is recommending time served to the judge.
The judge has options, agree with the CW's time served and JM is booted out of the country or give her anywhere between the 1-10 yrs.
Now that BB was found guilty and the jury obviously believed enough of JM's testimony I am concerned the judge will agree with the CW or go real light.
imo

BB will appeal for sure. So she needs stay in the country for the appeal as the potential witness..After that, who cares?

 

[tmar]

Guilty of murder of CB and JR, both counts of aggravated murder

Just heard.
Great.
He thought he covered all bases.
Hope the Creep gets life in jail.

 

[mrjitty]

I realise it's de rigueur for the creator class to rag on the Commonwealth these days, but I don't see what else can be expected in such a difficult case.

First up, it's not the CWs fault that a sophisticated defendant authored such a complex scheme that easily could have gone undetected. As we've seen in other 'self defence' cases, and with a stranger/home invader shooting, this one could have been overlooked extremely easy - yet that did not happen.

Second, it's not the CWs fault they don't have more 'killer evidence' against the accused. While there are some indications from the crime scene, the reality is without the aborted 911, there is actually no way to prove the order of stabbing vs shooting beyond doubt. The advantage of the defendant's scheme is that it didn't particularly create any incriminating evidence. Rather it relies on order of events, and a plausible possibility the victim really sent all the messages to Joe. Everything else is out in the open with little staging.

So this does leave you needing the cooperation of JM to bring this to trial. Otherwise all you have is a theory of a conspiracy that may better fit some facts and provide motive, but no way to prove that any such conspiracy actually existed.

it's all very well for Tragos and co to moan about the deal with JM, but what practical alternative strategy do they offer? They themselves admit the CW could not get a conviction without JM. So yeah it is distasteful but in the end they did a great job taking this guy down in exceptionally difficult circumstances.

IMO

 

[Kellygirl2013]

I hope that we hear from Joseph's family and friends more during witness impact.

i just happened upon this video that local WUSA9 published. It’s the full interview that they did earlier with Joe Ryan’s mom. I’m still watching but in only the first 10 mins. I am really getting a good sense of his personality. As you said I hope they do have a family representative there to speak for him during witness impact statements sentencing. (Both mom and grand-mom are not in good health so not sure they could make can make it, mom is in FL, but grand-mom is here in NoVA.).

 

[Weki]

The jurors didn’t care…we have been covered in snow, ice and single digit temps for over a week.

How do you know the jurors didn’t care? Obviously their verdict is not about that. Nor should it be.

We the public also have a right to care. In this instance the lead prosecutor was taken off the case for public drunkenness and the prosecutor assigned at the last minute is unprofessional (chewing gum, casual dress etc) we should care about that. Any disrespect and lack of decorum should concern us.

JMO

 

[Inthedetails]

How do you know the jurors didn’t care? Obviously their verdict is not about that. Nor should it be.

We the public also have a right to care. In this instance the lead prosecutor was taken off the case for public drunkenness and the prosecutor assigned at the last minute is unprofessional (chewing gum, casual dress etc) we should care about that. Any disrespect and lack of decorum should concern us.

JMO

Whatever the opinions about the prosecutor, she did bring home four guilty verdicts.

Just saying.

jmo

 

[muddychickens]

How do you know the jurors didn’t care? Obviously their verdict is not about that. Nor should it be.

We the public also have a right to care. In this instance the lead prosecutor was taken off the case for public drunkenness and the prosecutor assigned at the last minute is unprofessional (chewing gum, casual dress etc) we should care about that. Any disrespect and lack of decorum should concern us.

JMO

Chewing gum is a pet peeve of mine and I thought it was very unprofessional. I really didn't see an issue with having a visible tattoo or her dress. Prosecutors will often try to present themselves as "one of the people" to connect with the jury. As we can't see the jury we have no way of knowing if this was part of something like this.
I am a business professional (40,f). I belong to multiple service organizations made up of other professionals and it was very surprising to me to see the way young professionals present themselves and dress for our meetings/events. That being said I also have tattoos and in my business there are times when I feel appropriate to cover them and times when my clients can appreciate them. She is an attorney doing meaningful work and I think she must be in tune with how to connect to juries. All of this leads me to believe she did everything on purpose.
The way the CW questioned and responded to BB seemed as though she was saying "do you hear yourself, you sound stupid." She did get the guilty verdict so I believe she may have been doing something right.
JMO

 

[Weki]

There is no excuse for the prosecutor’s casual and unprofessional attire and behavior. It was not done intentionally to “connect” with jurors - that is bending over backwards until you snap to excuse her conduct. And if people want to make excuses for prosecutors acting unprofessionally and not showing proper decorum (ie, respect) for the courtroom, be prepared to make excuses for jurors who don’t take their role seriously and cause convictions to be overturned. If you think prosecutors acting unprofessionally will not impact how jurors behave, well……

Also, this prosecution office let Juliana, a willing and active participant in this double murder walk. There’s no justice in that. They tried to whitewash it yesterday but that is lazy work by this office. Makes sense considering they spend most of their time drinking. Maybe the prosecutor will lend Juliana her Uggs when she walks out of court a free woman this month.

JMO