FAIRFAX, Va. — A Virginia judge has ordered prosecutors to give the defense documentation about the reassignment of a digital forensic examiner who had been working on the case in which a man is accused of plotting with an au pair to kill his wife and another man.
Fairfax Circuit Court Chief Judge Penney Azcarate on Thursday ordered Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Eric Clingan to collect and distribute any documentation of the assignment change to the defense for Brendan Banfield.
Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joe Ryan.
The defense had also sought information on the transfer of the lead detective on the case. But the judge declined.
An attorney for Brendan Banfield alleged in court this week that Fairfax County police commanders had reassigned the two employees who disagreed with the top brass' analysis of the evidence, particularly a premise that the case involved the husband catfishing one of the victims.
''It is a theory in search of facts rather than a series of facts supporting a theory,'' John Carroll, Banfield's attorney, said in court Thursday.
In court, prosecutors argued officials had given over all the documentation they had in the case to the defense, objecting to notions that personnel transfers were part of criminal case evidence.
Brendan Miller, a digital forensic examiner with the Fairfax County Police Department, testified Thursday that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded Christine Banfield had connected with Ryan through a social networking platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. Miller's analysis found that the two also chatted through Telegram, an encrypted messaging app. Ryan agreed to come to the house for what appeared to be a consensual sexual encounter.