Child’s interview can’t be used in her father’s trial in killings of wife and other man, judge rules
July 25, 2025
A Virginia judge has denied prosecutors’ motion to have an interview of a man’s child be used as evidence in his trial in a double-killing case. Brendan Banfield is accused of plotting with an au pair to kill his wife and another man in February 2023. On Friday, the judge said that the interview could not be used because a child’s interview would be admissible only if the child was being directly victimized by the parent. In this case, the interview was conducted more than a year before her father was arrested and nearly two years before the child’s father was charged with child abuse. The judge also has denied Banfield’s motions to remove the lead prosecutor of the case and to quash the indictment.