A former ballerina who was found guilty of manslaughter for killing her estranged spouse in self-defense was given a 20-year prison sentence on Tuesday.
Judge Mathew Whyte of the Circuit Court stated that Ashley Benefield, 33, did not warrant a reduced sentence even though he thought she had behaved under pressure and demonstrated regret for shooting Doug Benefield, 58, at her Florida home on September 27, 2020.
Ashley Benefield’s attorneys had pushed for a less sentence because the maximum penalty was 30 years. She was also given a 10-year probationary period by Whyte.
When Whyte announced the penalty, Ashley Benefield didn’t make a move.
Doug Benefield’s family stated following Tuesday’s hearing that they thought Ashley Benefield’s penalty was appropriate, even though they didn’t agree with the judge’s conclusion that she had demonstrated regret.
Eva Benefield, the daughter of Doug Benefield, read a victim impact statement during the court and said, “I’ve waited so long to speak to her, face to face.” “I hope prison serves her well.”
She was accused of second-degree murder by prosecutors in the 12th Judicial District of Florida, which is located south of Tampa. After a six-day trial last summer, a jury found her guilty of the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter but acquitted her.
She characterized her spouse as violent, domineering, and abusive in her trial testimony. After an argument at home turned into a physical struggle that she said made her fear for her life, she testified that she shot him to death.
The physical evidence from the gunshot did not support Benefield’s version of the altercation, according to a prosecutor who referred to the abuse claims as false.
According to the prosecutor, Suzanne O’Donnell, Benefield shot her husband in the middle of a heated argument that she was determined to win at all costs.
In the past, she had applied for injunctions that would have prevented him from visiting their small child.
She said that she filed one in 2018 after he seemed to have broken a no-contact order they had secured against one another, but the judge rejected the injunction, stating that she didn’t believe the allegations to be true.
In 2020, Benefield accused her husband of abusing their children and requested a second injunction. At the time of his death, the processes were still in progress, and he had not been charged with any crimes related to the claims.
The attorneys for Benefield had requested a new trial on the grounds of juror misbehavior. The filing claims that one juror neglected to reveal that she had been involved in a custody battle with her ex-husband, who had accused her of abusive behavior. The facts, according to the filing, mirrored the prosecution’s theory regarding Benefield and would have complicated the juror’s impartiality.
According to the lawsuit, a person who claimed a sibling had snuck in a phone and was giving him real-time information about the case may have heard specifics of the proceedings from another juror who had a smartphone in the jury room.
Under the handle “That Hoodie Guy,” the individual subsequently shared the information on a news website, the lawsuit states.
Judge Whyte rejected the defense’s plea in an order published on Tuesday, stating that he spoke with each juror and discovered that none of them acknowledged using a phone while deliberating or that any of them remembered witnessing a device being used during deliberations.
Furthermore, Whyte accused the defense team of failing to probe further throughout the jury selection process. He stated that although the potentially unbiased juror answered “yes” to a question on domestic abuse during that portion of the trial, Ashley Benefield’s defense attorneys did not inquire further.
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