Ashley Benefield appears in court on the first day of her murder trial in Bradenton, Fla., on July 23, 2024 (Law&Crime).
Opening statements began on Tuesday in the trial of a former ballerina who admittedly shot and killed her Navy veteran husband.
There is no dispute about what happened to Douglas “Doug” Benefield, 58, inside the couple’s Lakewood Ranch, Florida, home in September 2020. As the last of many arguments between the pair reached a fatal end, Ashley Benefield, 32, fired four shots at her husband — her child’s father — and two of those shots connected.
Just before the trial began, Judge Stephen Mathew “Matt” Whyte discussed evidentiary matters with the prosecution and the defense.
Benefield’s attorney, Neil Taylor, honed in on the heart of the matter before the five women and one man who make up the six-person Bradenton jury: “We acknowledge that Mrs. Benefield was responsible for the shooting, all that’s left is: was it in self-defense or wasn’t it?”
Though Benefield is charged with murder in the second degree, the state sought to paint a picture of a defendant who plotted and schemed to dispose of her husband by any means necessary. The state’s theory and presentation, to somewhat questionable effect, runs right up against the edge of premeditated murder.
“This is a case about a woman who, early on in her pregnancy, decided she wanted to be a single mother,” prosecutor Suzanne O’Donnell began. “She did not want the father of this child to have any visitation.”
The prosecutor said “everything” Benefield “did from that point on” showed she would “stop at nothing” to attain the goal of keeping her daughter all to herself. In service of this alleged goal were efforts lodged within the court system, through law enforcement, and via the child welfare system but “no one got on her side,” O’Donnell said.
“And at the end, when there was no other option, she shoots him and kills him and claims self-defense,” the prosecutor went on.
The state laid out a narrative of a family splintered and in crisis — but with an apparent eye toward eventual reconciliation. When the couple moved to Florida from South Carolina, they already did not live together, but they spent a decent amount of time together going to restaurants, attractions, and otherwise hanging out.
“By all images, they looked like they were going to reconcile,” O’Donnell said. “The problem was: that’s not what Ashley Benefield wanted. Although that’s what she was portraying, that’s not what she wanted.”
The prosecutor went on to describe a “ruse” perpetrated by the defendant and intended to keep Doug Benefield in the dark.
The truth, the state claimed, was slated to come out at a family court hearing on Sept. 30, 2020. Three days before that scheduled hearing, however, with no one else in the home, the shooting occurred.
On the day in question, Ashley Benefield was preparing to move to Maryland with her mother and the then-separated couple’s young daughter. Doug Benefield arrived to help with the move — a move he also planned to make, though the two would remain separate.
After arriving “happy, hyper and animated,” the man eventually became “agitated, sullen and intimating,” a previously filed defense motion alleges. Eventually, after verbally insulting his wife, Doug Benefield rammed her with a moving box, leaving abrasions, the defense says. The altercation escalated and ended in a homicide.
The state, oppositely, offered three key arguments over the tussle that became the shooting. First, the gun belonged to the defendant and she had it in her possession at the time while the alleged victim was not armed, O’Donnell argued. Second, the prosecutor said, “Ashley Benefield was not injured.” And, third, the state argued the trajectory of the fatal bullet will dispute a self-defense theory.
“You’ll see that this was a custody battle that this mother was going to win at all costs,” O’Donnell concluded. “And the cost was the life of Doug Benefield. And that is murder.”
More Law&Crime coverage: Judge nixes ‘stand your ground’ defense by former ballerina accused of shooting and killing allegedly abusive husband
The defense opening began with technical difficulties, as Taylor struggled to bring up images for jurors’ to view.
“This is the divide between generations,” the defense attorney said. “I’m in the old school. I’d like to know that I have a picture and it’s reliable. This is the new world. We rely on technology. I’m not sure that I’m a fan.”
Taylor sought to, and eventually did, show jurors images showcasing the deceased man’s impressive physique and strength.
“I want you to note how he’s built for a 58-year-old man,” the defense attorney said. “I’m going to have some strong words about Douglas Benefield, the alleged victim in this case. I say ‘alleged victim’ because he was anything but that. The evidence is going to show that Douglas Benefield was a very disturbed man.”
The defense attorney made a point of focusing on the 30-year age gap between the deceased and the accused.
Taylor said Doug Benefield was “obsessed” with the much younger woman. He “insisted on control” over her, the defense argued. And, “he successfully portrayed himself as everything he was not” to convince her to marry him, Taylor said.
Then came the more obvious discord.
“He fired a handgun into the ceiling of their kitchen on an occasion to stop Ashley from talking,” Taylor said. “He threw a loaded gun at Ashley. He punched their dog in the face so hard that he knocked the dog unconscious.”
The defense went on to catalog a series of disturbing incidents.
Doug Benefield frequently punched holes through the wall of their South Carolina home, he said. After the separation, he illegally tracked his then-estranged wife, often followed her without her consent and even drove from out of state to keep tabs on her. At least once, he allegedly stood in a neighbor’s backyard in the middle of the night to get a glimpse of her. Taylor also took note of Doug Benefield’s “previous marital history of domestic violence.”
These prior incidents, the defense argued, would be supported by evidence from multiple sources. And, he said, the harrowing past was ever-present in his client’s mind on Sept. 27, 2020.
“Ashley Benefield feared him,” Taylor said. “She left him a letter when she moved out three years prior to the homicide detailing how scared she was of him because of all of these acts. She feared for herself and for her unborn child. Three years before the shooting. She left him; he pursued. She rejected him; he would not take no for an answer. She, at times, despised him; he did not care. She moved to get away from him; he followed her. She decided to go to Maryland and, surprise, he decided to go to Maryland as well. She belonged to him. He had the right to be with her. And no less than God decided that to be the case. Doug Benefield viewed Ashley Benefield as his property.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
