Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Au Pair Affair Murders Trial: Legal Analyst Says Au Pair Isn’t Likable, BUT She’s Believable
22 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the au pair affair murders trial about?
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Chapter 2: How does the prosecution build their case against Brendan Banfield?
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Welcome everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ Presents. We have been obsessed with this au pair affair murders trial. That's what it's been dubbed. But to catch up, Brendan Banfield, a former IRS agent, is on trial now. And he is accused of conspiring with... his au pair, who he was having an affair with, to not only kill his wife, but to pin it on someone else.
And in order to do that, according to the prosecution, he and the au pair went onto a fetish website to find someone who unknowingly agreed to be a part of their plan. He thought that he was going to have a sexual encounter with a Brendan Banfield's wife, Christine, in which he was told she wanted to simulate a rape scene.
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Chapter 3: What role does the au pair's testimony play in the trial?
And the idea, according to prosecutors, was that Brendan would walk in on this and kill her. Joseph Ryan, and then stab his wife to death, but make it look as though Joseph Ryan was stabbing his wife to death so that he is the hero, not the murderer. That is basically the essence of the prosecution's case. And TJ, we have not been able to stop watching this.
I mean, this is, and look, it's a little cute, I guess, au pair affair is what it's being called. But these are the types of stories that even in Hollywood, they have a difficult time scripting.
So let's bring in Allison Treasel, our expert, our legal expert defense attorney who's been helping us through a number of high profile cases. And Allison, you're never shy as a defense attorney about telling us. In some of these cases, man, that defense attorney, he really took a stinker of a case.
Now, tell me how much of an uphill climb is it for a defense attorney, for the defense attorney who took this case? OK, first of all, I'm just going to geek out for one second because, you know, I've been practicing criminal defense forever. And I talk about cases all the time. And then I watch criminal cases. So like, you know, true crime junkie. Obsessed is an understatement, Amy. My goodness.
This one is, you're right. I mean, no one could script a story like this and for us to watch it and believe it if it wasn't in fact real. happening in front of our eyes as we watch witness after witness. I mean, my house could have been on fire and I was not going to turn away from Julianne's testimony, right?
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Chapter 4: How does the defense challenge the credibility of the au pair?
I mean, I was going to watch gavel to gavel because I wanted to know who the prosecution, who, in my opinion, made a deal with the devil to hear what she had to say, because she may be walking out of here scot-free, which is incredible, because in her testimony, she admits to shooting a man and it was probably the fatal blow. But Her testimony, in my opinion, is the benchmark of the case.
It is the most important thing that comes out of this entire case. And if she is to be believed by the jury, this man is going to get convicted and he's going to spend the rest of his life in prison. That's how I feel about the case.
Do you think she came off as believable, her story?
You know, I'm troubled by her testimony. I do believe her story to be true. I did not like her affect. I did not like her denials. I didn't, I thought that she should have she already has the sweetheart deal owned up to her actual role and involvement in this, and I didn't think that she did that. Honestly, enough.
I think that in many ways, this relationship speaks for itself in terms of the power dynamic. She is a young 21-year-old Brazilian gal who comes to this country not knowing anybody. He is a successful decades-older who she falls in love with, as we know from the social media, where she describes him as just sort of this godlike person who has swept her off her feet.
And so I think there was a real power dynamic there where she was the inferior in this relationship. But she was all in.
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of the power dynamic in the relationship?
She was all in. If this is to be believed, she was all in on the relationship. which she called it a plan. She was very active in setting up those social media posts, which she wrote, or the exchanges on the FedLife site that she wrote some of them. And she kept saying, Brandon made me this. And Brandon told me to do that. And I didn't think that was necessary. I didn't think it was necessary.
And I think that it did diminish her credibility because she was there step by step. And, you know, that picture of her at a shooting range You know, Brandon told me to get the gun. Brandon told me to do this. Brandon told me to do that. Well, she was all on board for it. And one of the things that I think that the prosecution should have done better is walk through her rationale
and had her cry. They should have brought her to tears. They should have brought her to tears and showed that she actually had remorse. The only time I saw that she cried at all was when she was talking about the little girl, Victoria, the couple's daughter. But she brutally killed
Chapter 6: How does the jury perceive the au pair's emotional responses?
And not at Brandon's direction because she said, apparently in her testimony, she said, well, Brandon, he's still moving. And Brandon didn't respond. And so she pulls out the weapon that's in her sweater and shoots him and shoots the guy dead.
And, you know, at some point she says she covered up her ears, she covered her eyes, but she walks upstairs, leaving the four-year-old with an iPad in the basement. Okay. Which by the way, doesn't make sense to anybody who would believe the story that this, this guy is in the house and she doesn't stay with this, with this toddler while the law enforcement
husband goes to figure out what's going on, that doesn't make sense to me. So I wanted to see a little bit more contrition and remorse and sadness from her, and I didn't see it. Now, that said, Is she to be disbelieved? Did the prosecution need her? Did they have to give her this kind of deal because she is, in fact, the backbone of their case? And my answer is yes. Okay.
So yes, we feel validated because we thought that same thing. Like if you don't have the au pair, you don't actually have a case. However, you mentioned her lack of attrition. I would also say what she did after the fact, she moved right into the master bedroom, put a picture of her and Brandon up where a picture of that used to be there with Christine and Brendan.
She moved her clothes into what was Christine's closet.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the sweetheart deal offered to the au pair?
She just moved in and became and assumed the role. When I saw the Brazilian jersey move from the guest room into the master bedroom and And then I saw the picture of the two of them sitting on the nightstand right next to the part of the bed where Christine used to sleep. It is disgusting. I have chills just thinking about that. So as a juror, I am wondering.
And the prosecution should have addressed it, should have addressed it and said, do you feel badly now for that? Do you think badly?
Because as a juror, I'm watching and seeing this woman say, Brandon made me do it, Brandon made me do it, and yet move right in, assume the role of mom and wife, and start living this life that she basically took from or contributed to taking from Christine by her own admission. And now she turns the table and throws it all at Brandon.
That puts credibility at issue just for me, I think, as a juror. I'm wondering, wow. And then to know that she is going to walk away after this testimony free, living in Brazil, possibly with Netflix deals, making money and profiting off of this crime and saying that she deserves it. How much of an impact does that have?
Allison, simply put, does the jury have to believe her in order to convict him? So let me tell you an interesting thing. And this is where my lawyering comes in, okay? Because we're all having this wonderful fodder. But here's the interesting thing, right? He's in a bad spot because even if he tries, and we really don't know, and I'm listening for it.
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Chapter 8: What are the potential outcomes for Brendan Banfield based on the trial's developments?
I'm listening for it. I'm listening for it in the opening. I'm listening for it in the questioning by the defense attorney. We don't know what his defense is yet. We really don't. And I'm sort of befuddled by that because here's the legal problem they have. They can't point the finger at her and say, well, no, no, she was the mastermind.
Because in a crime like this, both of them can get convicted of murder. So even if she planned it, he participated in it. And even if she was the one that sent the majority of those FetLife email exchanges, That doesn't take away the fact that he participated in the killing of his wife, in the setup of this poor schlub coming there, going to their house. He's sitting at McDonald's.
There's a lot of pre-planning involved. He goes upstairs. How are they going, even if they are able? To turn the tables on Christine, are they going to say he had no idea this was happening? He had no idea that this is what she had planned? That's not believable to me either. Is their defense then going to be... So even if a juror says, well, you know what?
She was more culpable than she led us to believe. He's still culpable. He's still culpable. So legally, the prosecutions got him against the wall on that because just because Amy and I, they can prove that I was more involved or I was the mastermind of this crime, it doesn't mean that Amy is not guilty too. So legally, they've got a problem. And then-
TJ, you're looking at me with like, kind of like that, that I, that I, but then it depends going to be that. No, it was Mr. Ryan. It was this. She, she actually was the one that engaged him in the FetLife site. It was Christine. It was Christine that planned this and, and her husband is a hero. He did shoot him because this man was raping his wife and,
But then, Alison, you got to prove that this 21-year-old Brazilian has now made up this whole story and lie to get herself back to Brazil and free. Is that what we're talking about? I would have a hard time believing that as a juror as well.
But the thing is, the defense needed to much better than it did, in my opinion, in my opinion. hammer home the sweetheart, unbelievable, unheard of deal that this girl who admittedly kills somebody lands the fatal gunshot is going to go home. That she would have said anything. How rare is a deal like that?
If they told her that she was purple and that the sky was yellow and she would have said any single thing on the planet to go home and I would have really gone after the fact that this Netflix deal I mean, not only is she envisioning a sweet life after the fact, but that she's getting her commissary and her phone calls paid by movie and TV producers. Oh my, would I have gone after that? Yeah.
I mean, it definitely obviously affects her credibility. I was curious about what impact you think it had for her not to remember almost anything in terms of the planning. She got combative even at times with the defense attorney saying she didn't know something that significant, something that important to what she was testifying to.
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