Dancer Allegedly Killed Rich Donor Husband So She Might Be Single Mother: Prosecutors

That was the argument of the prosecution throughout the case in opposition to 32-year-old Ashley Benefield, who has admitted that she killed her 59-year-old husband, Douglas Benefield on September 27, 2020.

Benefield’s safety lawyer, Neil Taylor, painted a definite footage for jurors throughout the courtroom earlier this week all through opening statements in what’s been dubbed the ‘Black Swan’ murder trial. “She was in fear for her life when she was pressured to shoot him,” Neil argued.

Nevertheless the prosecution says the proof of the crime scene paints a definite picture of what occurred — and proof going once more even extra paints a definite picture of Ashley Benefield than the safety is presenting.

“This case is a few woman who very early on in her being pregnant decided she wanted to be a single mother,” argued Assistant State Lawyer Suzanne O’Donnell. “She would stop at nothing to accumulate that goal.”

On September 27, 2020, when police arrived on the scene to hunt out his physique on the mattress room flooring, Ashley talked about that he’d tried to assault her and that’s the reason she shot him.

Nevertheless prosecutors argued with forensic proof that Douglas was going by way of away from Ashley when she shot him for the first of three occasions.

“Based mostly totally on entry wounds on Douglas it doesn’t appear that he was going by way of Ashley when she began capturing,” the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office talked about in an affidavit acquired by Thew New York Put up.

“It moreover doesn’t appear that Douglas had taken any kind of defensive or combative stance. He was not found to have any weapons on his specific particular person or near him,” the affidavit continued.

It’s conclusion: “Detectives found no proof that she was performing in self-defense when she fired a lot of footage at her husband.”

On Thursday, the state provided textual content material messages as part of the closure of their arguments. In preparation of a switch from Florida to Maryland, the messages confirmed a pair working peacefully collectively, discussing packing packing containers and furnishings.

Douglas’ final message to his partner was “trucker on the way in which through which,” per WTVT. That message received right here at 5:32 p.m. on September 27, 2020. In response to Ashley, it was shortly after this that she claimed she shot her husband in self safety.

The safety argued that the cooperative nature of the messages was indicative of “an abused woman’s fear.” Taylor argued, “Proper right here now now we have in her quiet, most private second. What’s she doing 5 months sooner than the capturing? She is looking for how one can get along with an abusive ex-spouse.”

The select, however, disallowed these searches from being current to the jury, saying they’ve been hearsay, per WTVT. After the prosecution rested its case on Thursday, Ashley’s safety will start on Friday morning.

Ashley and Douglas first met in 2016 at a GOP fundraiser in Palm Seaside when she was 24 years outdated. A talented dancer, Ashley shared her aspirations to open her private ballet agency. Two weeks after they met, the couple was married and he was funding her studio.

In response to the prosecution, points took a flip when the money started to run out and Ashley ballet agency faltered. An ensuing divorce battle turned ugly with allegations of infidelity on both facet and abuse.

Whereas they’ve been solely married for 4 years, Ashley filed allegations of abuse in opposition to Douglas a lot of cases, along with a story that he’d shot a gun on the ceiling to “shut her up,” that he’d kicked their canine unconscious, and that he’d even tried to poison her whereas she was pregnant.

All by way of the trial, it was revealed that the couple was estranged when their daughter, now six, was born with Doug solely uncover out she’d given begin when she filed a restraining order in opposition to him, per WTVT.

In response to an lawyer Douglas had employed in an effort to be a part of his child’s begin culminated in a gathering between the two when the new child was six months outdated and Ashley’s abrupt option to associate with Douglas.

A select beforehand found no proof of abuse by Douglas in relation to these allegations, the NY Put up reported. The prosecution argued that every considered one of this was part of a calculated approach by the defendant to attain sole custody of their baby. And when that didn’t work, she took rather more extreme measures.

They liked a interval of reconciliation after that, per the outlet, until Ashley shot and killed her husband in September 2020.