A former ballerina has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of murdering her wealthy husband in a sensational case that became known as the 'Black Swan Murders'.
Five months after she was found guilty of manslaughter in the 2020 shooting death of her husband, Doug Benefield, 58, the 33-year-old woman was heard reading her fate in a Florida courtroom on Monday. Ashley Benefield, 20, remained stone-faced.
Doug's daughter Eva said in a victim statement: “I have been waiting a long time to talk to her face to face.” “I hope prison will be beneficial to her.”
Benefield faced up to 30 years in prison after his lawyer claimed he killed in self-defense.
Judge Matthew White accepted that she may have acted under duress, but said he could not reduce her sentence. NBC News reported.
Prosecutors argued that the shooting was part of an elaborate scheme by Benefield to gain custody of the couple's children. Court testimony said crime scene evidence showed her husband fired two shots during an argument at her mother's home and was chased away.
Jurors in July acquitted the young mother of second-degree murder, saying she had triggered in self-defense after her defense team argued that Doug was an abusive husband who had physically and emotionally terrorized her. I agreed that I pulled the .
The couple were embroiled in a bitter custody battle over the baby, with Benefield allegedly kept away from her husband for six months after giving birth, with Doug only allowed visitation after a court order.
During her pregnancy, Benefield began complaining to law enforcement that Doug was abusing her. Doug once fired a gun into the ceiling to keep her from talking, even claimed he beat his dog unconscious and kept a loaded firearm “drawn and ready.” fire,” the defense attorney said.
Despite a 30-year age difference, the couple tied the knot just 13 days after meeting in 2016, despite being 24 and 54 years old when they started dating.
Doug worked in the defense and private equity sectors, and Benefield was a trained ballerina. The two started a ballet company together to fulfill Benefield's lifelong dream.
However, the business soon collapsed, and Ms. Benefield soon became pregnant.
From then on, the defense claims their relationship began to deteriorate and Doug became abusive, causing Benefield to move from his home in South Carolina to his mother's home in Florida and then to Maryland. He said he plans to resettle in the state.
On the night of the shooting, Doug showed up at his mother's house and confronted her, but her mother claimed that her mother became violent and began slapping and shoving her.
She claimed that after she ran into a bedroom and pulled out a gun, Doug followed her and ignored her pleas to stop, forcing her to shoot him.
“I thought he was going to kill me,” she testified during the trial.
Doug was not charged with any crime, but According to the GuardianInvestigators said there were no signs of physical abuse on Benefield after the shooting.
Prosecutors argued that her abuse and court allegations were nothing more than a performance, all part of a play to win custody of her children.
