Anonymous wrote:I knew the couple and I feel sure Brendan is guilty. I'm wondering about those on the outside. To a completely neutral person, is there reasonable doubt? And what would the source of the doubt be?
I’m a neutral third party. No connection to the case, just learned about it and followed the trial out of curiosity.
After the CW’s case, I was sure of his guilt because their evidence, and Juliana’s testimony, just fit. It was logical and made sense.
But Brendan’s testimony reminded me that I don’t know these people. We have these preconceived notions about a marriage but maybe the Banfields were different. Maybe in their world, affairs made sense and a 730 rendezvous with a stranger was normal.
But, he was not able to explain many things, like the first 911 call or why he’d rush home if it was just his wife having an affair. Why he was wearing running shoes and jeans if he had a big meeting.
Under his version of events, everyone else had to be acting irrationally:
Christine having a rendezvous at 730 am while her family is around - and putting her phone in a drawer (I have kids and a nanny, plans can and do change and they come home unexpectedly)
Juliana disregarding instruction to stay in the car and bringing a child into a one with a suspected intruder inside
Juliana using a weapon despite being young and inexperienced instead of simply staying with the child into the safety of the basement
Joe. When someone is pointing a gun at you, the LAST thing I would think you would do is stab someone in front of them! Especially when you’ve not done anything wrong - you thought you were meeting up for a hook up. So under this version, Joe has to just completely lose his mind at that moment and act irrationally.
Then there’s the fact that Brandon lied on the stand about his meeting. It makes you wonder, hmmm what else are you lying about? All the stuff he said about Christine, he brought zero proof. And after realizing he lied about his meeting, you realize you can’t take everything he said at face value.
So for me, I’d vote guilty. I don’t see where the reasonable doubt is.