Fairfax County Double Murder

[Anonymous]

For me, Juliana’s testimony was full of gaps and inconsistencies, unfortunately

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At this point, is there anything they can do to not accept JM cooperation or say it wasn’t enough and just sentence her to jail time? Or is she really just gonna go back to Brazil to a normal life?

The judge is not required to accept the recommendation of the prosecutor, so she could be sentenced to a longer prison term before being deported. I believe it could be as much as a total of ten years, which would include time already served.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me, Juliana’s testimony was full of gaps and inconsistencies, unfortunately

Much of it is corroborated by other evidence, such as the timing of the 911 calls, for instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me, Juliana’s testimony was full of gaps and inconsistencies, unfortunately

Much of it is corroborated by other evidence, such as the timing of the 911 calls, for instance.

I think in her testimony she was trying hard to downplay her own role and behavior, but overall it’s basically what happened. Nothing else really makes sense, which is why we had hundreds of pages of discussion and speculation about this before she flipped. In particular, I think her lying in wait in the cul de sac (along with her full admission of what she was waiting for, and no other reasonable alibi) pretty much seals the deal on the catfish theory. No way she happens to be waiting for and coming back to the house upon the exact arrival of someone Christine was communicating with. I suppose Brendan could downplay his own involvement in the plot (despite conveniently lingering in the bathroom after going through the drive through), but it’s not super believable that either one of them catfished someone and then that person went so off script and stabbed Christine (conveniently) for them. What would be the purpose of the catfishing if not to stage a murder?

So when you consider that the jury is hearing all the facts for the first time, I think they won’t be able to see any other reasonable interpretation of these events. The idea that Christine was the person communicating with Joe is dead in the water if you look at the timeline surrounding Joe’s arrival to the home and the movements of Juliana and Brendan in coordination.

911 hang up call is also very significant in the timeline. Too much time elapses between the calls to reasonably believe their original claims.

I’m still hoping that tomorrow the prosecution has some forensic “clinchers” that can really seal the deal. At least one thing. But my guess is, all these facts are needed in context of each other and Juliana’s testimony was needed.

And circling back to the top of my post, I think Juliana was an active and willing participant in this and it’s upsetting she will basically get away with it. However, I’m not sure if she would have initiated this plot if not for Brendan. It also seems like the commonwealth felt they really needed this context for the case to seal the catfish theory and make the other facts fall into line. So if this is what was needed to put Brendan away and get that child to safety, I guess that is the priority.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t she say she heard CB talking to Brendan? In her testimony, Joe was on top of CB, then when she says Joe was shot, CB was on the floor.
In her first interview, she said she heard CB telling BB to let her die. Now she says she covered her eyes and ears and didn’t hear anything.
She said after Joe was shot, BB told her to get a towel. Was BB holding CB? Did CB say something about Juliana being there or asked about the daughter?

These are some of the things that didn’t have follow up questions. I’m not an expert but maybe it should have ?

[Anonymous]

The truth is that BB almost made the perfect crime.
Juliana ruined his plan. The 911 call, the letters, her testimony before… He prob wishes he would have killed her too that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that BB almost made the perfect crime.
Juliana ruined his plan. The 911 call, the letters, her testimony before… He prob wishes he would have killed her too that day.

I think one of the biggest errors, if the plan is as it is alleged, was including the request that Joe bring a knife. He had to have known his wife had a blood clotting disorder (maybe he forgot?) and that there would be people who would tell the police that there is no way that someone with a clotting disorder would be interested in “knife play.” That seems like an obvious error.

If I were on the jury, this would be a really important fact to consider.

[Anonymous]

Y'all have to remember that most of the jurors haven't been following this case, so they won't be aware of so many of the things you're thinking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that BB almost made the perfect crime.
Juliana ruined his plan. The 911 call, the letters, her testimony before… He prob wishes he would have killed her too that day.

I think one of the biggest errors, if the plan is as it is alleged, was including the request that Joe bring a knife. He had to have known his wife had a blood clotting disorder (maybe he forgot?) and that there would be people who would tell the police that there is no way that someone with a clotting disorder would be interested in “knife play.” That seems like an obvious error.

If I were on the jury, this would be a really important fact to consider.

I've thought this too. The knife piece is what makes me wonder if Juliana had a larger role because she didn't know the details.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y'all have to remember that most of the jurors haven't been following this case, so they won't be aware of so many of the things you're thinking about.

I would think that the prosecution is going to document her blood clotting disorder, so the jury will know about when they go into deliberations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t she say she heard CB talking to Brendan? In her testimony, Joe was on top of CB, then when she says Joe was shot, CB was on the floor.
In her first interview, she said she heard CB telling BB to let her die. Now she says she covered her eyes and ears and didn’t hear anything.
She said after Joe was shot, BB told her to get a towel. Was BB holding CB? Did CB say something about Juliana being there or asked about the daughter?

These are some of the things that didn’t have follow up questions. I’m not an expert but maybe it should have ?

She did give some more details in her interviews than in her courtroom testimony. She would have been less concerned in the interviews about being held in contempt or grilled by a defense attorney. The defense on cross did focus quite a bit on her saying “she doesn’t remember” and also implied she could have used discovery to “create this story.” This particular exchange wasn’t really brought up during cross, but he definitely targeted the “I don’t know, I don’t remember” and cooperating with the prosecution after so much time. As well as getting specific dollar amounts from producers to sell the story once this is over.

I wouldn’t really say she outright said anything different, but did give less details. She didn’t seem super firm in the interviews on the exact exchange between Christine and Brendan IIRC. I don’t think the prosecution was that interested in it and it didn’t seem the defense was either. They are not looking to litigate every single detail, as that can confuse and distract the jury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me, Juliana’s testimony was full of gaps and inconsistencies, unfortunately

Much of it is corroborated by other evidence, such as the timing of the 911 calls, for instance.

I think in her testimony she was trying hard to downplay her own role and behavior, but overall it’s basically what happened. Nothing else really makes sense, which is why we had hundreds of pages of discussion and speculation about this before she flipped. In particular, I think her lying in wait in the cul de sac (along with her full admission of what she was waiting for, and no other reasonable alibi) pretty much seals the deal on the catfish theory. No way she happens to be waiting for and coming back to the house upon the exact arrival of someone Christine was communicating with. I suppose Brendan could downplay his own involvement in the plot (despite conveniently lingering in the bathroom after going through the drive through), but it’s not super believable that either one of them catfished someone and then that person went so off script and stabbed Christine (conveniently) for them. What would be the purpose of the catfishing if not to stage a murder?

So when you consider that the jury is hearing all the facts for the first time, I think they won’t be able to see any other reasonable interpretation of these events. The idea that Christine was the person communicating with Joe is dead in the water if you look at the timeline surrounding Joe’s arrival to the home and the movements of Juliana and Brendan in coordination.

911 hang up call is also very significant in the timeline. Too much time elapses between the calls to reasonably believe their original claims.

I’m still hoping that tomorrow the prosecution has some forensic “clinchers” that can really seal the deal. At least one thing. But my guess is, all these facts are needed in context of each other and Juliana’s testimony was needed.

And circling back to the top of my post, I think Juliana was an active and willing participant in this and it’s upsetting she will basically get away with it. However, I’m not sure if she would have initiated this plot if not for Brendan. It also seems like the commonwealth felt they really needed this context for the case to seal the catfish theory and make the other facts fall into line. So if this is what was needed to put Brendan away and get that child to safety, I guess that is the priority.

DP here but adding on that Christine's phone was found downstairs, shut off and in a drawer. She would not have done that if she were the one communicating with Joe IMO 1- for safety reasons and 2- to make sure no one texting to say they were coming home early. Also, BB knew she wouldnt have been able to do find my iphone with it turned off if she somehow got out of the room. And there were telegram communications that morning before Joe arrived saying he was picking up a few more things. She did not communicate with him then go turn her phone off in a drawer on another floor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is that BB almost made the perfect crime.
Juliana ruined his plan. The 911 call, the letters, her testimony before… He prob wishes he would have killed her too that day.

I think one of the biggest errors, if the plan is as it is alleged, was including the request that Joe bring a knife. He had to have known his wife had a blood clotting disorder (maybe he forgot?) and that there would be people who would tell the police that there is no way that someone with a clotting disorder would be interested in “knife play.” That seems like an obvious error.

If I were on the jury, this would be a really important fact to consider.

An OBGyN from Long Island is subpoenaed. Will be interesting if that was Christine's doc. (She had the baby before moving to VA).

[Anonymous]

If prosecution didn’t bring up, can we assume that Tess threatening Juliana was just fake news? That would have been a big evidence!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If prosecution didn’t bring up, can we assume that Tess threatening Juliana was just fake news? That would have been a big evidence!

I don’t necessarily see that as evidence against Brendan. It could be evidence against someone for intimidating a witness, but I think that would be a separate charge.