Prosecutors allege ballerina executed wealthy GOP donor husband because she wanted to be a single mom — she says it was self-defense
Ashley Benefield, a 32-year-old ballerina from Florida, is on trial for the murder of her 59-year-old husband, Douglas Benefield, a wealthy GOP donor. Prosecutors allege she executed him to become a single mother to their young daughter.
Benefield admits to killing her husband amid a contentious custody battle in September 2020 but claims it was in self-defense after years of abuse. “She was in fear for her life when she was forced to shoot him,” said her attorney, Neil Taylor, during opening statements on Tuesday. However, prosecutors argue that Douglas was shot while facing away from Ashley, indicating premeditated murder.
“This case is about a woman who very early on in her pregnancy decided she wanted to be a single mother,” Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O’Donnell stated. “She would stop at nothing to obtain that goal.”
The tumultuous marriage came to a violent end on September 27, 2020, when police responded to a 911 call at Ashley’s mother’s home in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. They found Douglas on a bedroom floor, shot three times. Ashley claimed he had tried to attack her.
However, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office found no evidence supporting her self-defense claim. An affidavit stated, “Based on entry wounds on Douglas, it does not appear that he was facing Ashley when she began shooting. It also does not appear that Douglas had taken any kind of defensive or combative stance. He was not found to have any weapons on his person or near him.”
Their relationship began like a storybook romance. Ashley, then 24, met Doug, a Navy veteran and technology consultant, at a 2016 Republican Party fundraiser at Ben Carson’s Palm Beach mansion. They married two weeks later. Doug funded Ashley’s dream to start her own ballet company. They later had a daughter, now 6 years old.
But the marriage soon deteriorated. Doug’s funds ran out, the ballet company collapsed, and the couple filed for a contentious divorce, trading allegations of infidelity and abuse. Ashley accused Doug of various abuses, including hitting their dog, shooting a gun at the ceiling to silence her, and trying to poison her. However, prosecutors claim these allegations were part of a strategy to gain sole custody of their child. A judge previously found no evidence of abuse by Doug.
The trial is expected to last over two weeks.
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