Where this was said
Brendan Takes the Stand
At 58:16 · chapter starts 53:20
Brendan's decision to take the stand is a jolt to the courtroom. He tells the jury he loved Christine and was devoted to the marriage but that they had sexual incompatibilities — she, he claims, wanted something rough that he wasn't into. He alleges she had affairs, including one involving BDSM. His relationship with Juliana, he says, had wound down by February 2023. He describes the morning as one that started early so he could prep for a big IRS meeting — his supervisor later testifies there was no such meeting. His account of the actual attack is hazy: Joe's alleged final words before the stabbing get mangled as he corrects 'hers' to 'his' mid-sentence. Ashley Flowers reflects on the stumble: it's hard to remember the right words when the conversation never happened. And there are arithmetic problems in his account — he describes Christine being stabbed twice, but she was stabbed six times.
When Brendan Banfield took the stand, he stumbled over his account of what Joe supposedly said before Christine was stabbed, correcting himself multiple times. Ashley Flowers notes: it's hard to remember the right words if the event never happened.
