“The Black Swan” Ashley Benefield, who was convicted of manslaughter by a Florida jury in the killing of her husband, will be learn her fate next month.
The 33-year-old ballerina was initially charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of her husband, 58-year-old Douglas Benefield, inside their Lakewood Ranch, Florida home in 2020.
The jury found Benefield guilty of the lesser offense after deliberating for more than six hours. Benefield, who is facing 11 to 30 years in prison, will be sentenced on October 22.
Ashley Benefield will be sentenced next month on a manslaughter charge. She was initially charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of her husband.
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office
The trial, which started on July 24, was dubbed “The Black Swan Murder Trial” in reference to the 2010 psychological thriller film Black Swan.
The couple met in 2016 at a political event and got married 13 days later.
Ashley Benefield campaigned for former president Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election and allegedly became a part of his inner circle.
“He offered me a job on the spot,” Benefield claimed in an interview with Vanity Fair.
She was not given a job in the administration after Trump won the election. She then went on to start a ballet company with her husband.
Former dancers alleged mismanagement that led to multiple members of the company being fired suddenly. Ashley Benefield spoke out publicly against the company she had founded after hearing of the firings.
While her professional career crumbled, Ashley Benefield also faced marital problems. In trial testimony, she alleged a pattern of abuse.
“Sometimes it was as simple as him just yelling and screaming at me or cussing at me, calling me names,” Ashley Benefield said during the trial. “Other times he would throw things or break things or smash things. He would come at me like he was going to hit me. He told me he was lucky that he punched walls instead of me.”
On September 27, 2020, in the midst of an escalating conflict, Ashley Benefield grabbed a gun and shot Doug Benefield.
“I thought he was going to kill me,” she said during her testimony.
A Florida jury will decide the fate of Ashley Benefield, charged with second-degree murder in the death of her husband Doug Benefield.
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Benefield’s attorney argued that it was an act of self-defense.
“Ashley Benefield feared him,” defense attorney Neil Taylor said. “She left him a letter when she moved out three years prior to the homicide detailing how scared she was of him because of all of these acts. She feared for herself and for her unborn child. Three years before the shooting. She left him, he pursued. She rejected him, he would not take no for an answer. She, at times, despised him, he did not care. She moved to get away from him, he followed her.”
Prosecutor Suzanne O’Donnell claimed that Benefield wanted to keep Doug Benefield away from herself and their child, but her attempts to go through the courts and law enforcement had failed.
“And at the end, when there was no other option, she shoots him and kills him and claims self-defense,” O’Donnell said.
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