The jury returned a verdict after seven hours deliberating whether or not or not or not Ashley Benefield shot and killed her husband in self-defense, or as part of a calculated effort to remove him so she is likely to be a single mother.
After the prosecution and safety launched vastly utterly totally different tales behind the admitted taking photos of her husband Doug Benefield, Ashley Benefield was led away in handcuffs late Tuesday as her trial concluded.
“The sound was almost pretty much as good as a result of the sight,” Doug’s cousin Tommie Benefield suggested the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, of seeing Ashley taken into custody. After seven hours, the jury returned a accountable verdict.
Ashley was found accountable of manslaughter, a lesser value than the second-degree murder value the prosecution was looking for. Her safety was that she was showing in self-defense, nevertheless the jury clearly didn’t buy it.
Whereas her authorized skilled tried to have her out on bond until her sentencing, the state argued she has incentive to flee going by means of as a lot as 30 years in jail. The determine ordered her held in custody until sentencing.
Doug’s 23-year-old daughter Eva didn’t buy Ashley’s story of being a sufferer of dwelling abuse, each, telling the media, “I apologize to all the women who’ve gone through dwelling violence circumstances. I consider what Ashley was doing was unfair to them. They deserve justice and I’m very joyful that my dad acquired the justice he deserves.”
Assistant State Lawyer Suzanne O’Donnell, who tried the case in opposition to Ashley, talked about, “Residence violence is completely an precise disadvantage. There are a variety of, many girls which is likely to be in horrendous circumstances.”
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“Women, and customarily males, which is likely to be in circumstances which is likely to be being abused and overwhelmed repeatedly,” she continued. “People who actually really feel like they’ll’t get out, no approach to get out. This isn’t this defendant, and it certainly not was.”
All by means of the week-long trial, the prosecution painted 32-year-old Ashley as an opportunistic killer who murdered her husband so she is likely to be a single guardian after attempting to deny him shared custody, nevertheless her safety launched a definite picture.
All by means of this earlier week, Ashley’s authorized skilled Neil Taylor shared the story of a partner scared of her husband after allegedly enduring many instances of emotional abuse. Ashley shot and killed Douglas on September 27, 2020.
Ashley herself took the stand on Friday and tearfully testified that whereas she had killed her husband, it was executed in self-defense after he turned bodily abusive.
One witness, Bruce Ferris, a psychological effectively being expert specializing in dwelling and family traumas, testified that Ashley’s displayed behaviors match the pattern of any individual who’s a sufferer of dwelling abuse. He known as them “strategies of compliance, not wanting to poke the bear.”
Dr. Jason Quintal, who’d labored with the couple beforehand, described Doug as “somebody who was domineering” and “super-controlling.” A realtor, Vincent Vizzaccaro, testified that Doug had wanted to buy a house straight behind the one Ashley was dwelling in all through their separation.
Lastly, a forensics educated, Michael Haag, took the stand and talked about bullet trajectories from the crime scene. He testified that Ashley wanted to have been transferring by means of the taking photos, which sits in stark distinction to the prosecution saying she shot her husband from behind.

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In accordance with the prosecution, Ashley murdered her husband so she is likely to be a single mother.
“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 intention.”
They launched their very personal proof regarding the taking photos, as properly. “Based on entry wounds on Douglas it doesn’t appear that he was going by means of Ashley when she began taking photos,” the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office talked about in an affidavit obtained by The New York Submit.
“It moreover doesn’t appear that Douglas had taken any sort of defensive or combative stance. He was not found to have any weapons on his explicit particular person or near him,” the affidavit continued.
It’s conclusion: “Detectives found no proof that she was showing in self-defense when she fired plenty of photos at her husband.”

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Ashley and Douglas first met in 2016 at a GOP fundraiser in Palm Seaside when she was 24 years earlier. 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 accordance with the prosecution, points took a flip when the money started to run out and Ashley’s ballet agency faltered. An ensuing divorce battle turned ugly with allegations of infidelity on all sides and abuse.
Whereas they’ve been solely married for 4 years, Ashley filed allegations of abuse in opposition to Douglas plenty 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.

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All by means of the trial, it was revealed that the couple was estranged when their daughter, now six, was born with Doug solely uncover out Ashley had given starting when she filed a restraining order in opposition to him, per WTVT.
A determine beforehand found no proof of abuse by Douglas in relation to these allegations, the NY Submit reported. The prosecution argued that each one of this was part of a calculated approach by the defendant to realize sole custody of their baby. And when that didn’t work, she took way more extreme measures.
They liked a interval of reconciliation after that, per the outlet, until Ashley shot and killed her husband in September 2020.
In case you’re experiencing dwelling violence, title the Nationwide Residence Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. The hotline is obtainable 24/7 in extra than 170 languages; Calls are confidential and toll-free.










