MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Ashley Benefield was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury late Tuesday night in the killing of her estranged husband.
The jury’s verdict was read at about 10:45 p.m. after several hours of deliberations.
A sentencing hearing has not been set, but she faces up to 30 years in prison because a firearm was used.
Doug Benefield’s brother, Dave Benefield, said if Doug was still here, he would focus on healing.
“He would want healing for everyone, because he was a firm believer of Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, as am I, and there is forgiveness for sin, and I am so thankful for justice,” he said. “The whole entire process was simply amazing. But Doug, his heart would be, ‘I want to see my family heal.'”
The 32-year-old former ballerina was accused of second-degree murder for the Sept. 27, 2020, shooting death of Doug Benefield. The jury found her guilty on a lesser charge.
Deliberations started late Tuesday afternoon after the jury heard closing arguments from both the defense and prosecution.
Last week when she took the stand before the jury, Ashley said she and Doug got into an argument that turned violent as he was helping her move boxes into a U-Haul ahead of a move to Maryland.
She claims her husband struck her face while blocking the doorway of her home as she was trying to leave. After that, she said she ran to her bedroom to get her gun and Doug followed. As she pointed the gun at him, she claims he took a ‘fighting stance’ and eventually lunged at her, which is when she fired multiple shots, killing Doug Benefield.
Ashley’s defense described Doug as a manipulative and controlling man who had violent tendencies throughout the couple’s four year marriage. Ashley stopped living with Doug shortly after becoming pregnant with his child in 2017 following a vasectomy reversal. She moved to her mother’s Lakewood Ranch home so she could help take care of her. She was suffering from morning sickness at the time.
Defense attorney Neil Taylor said before Ashley left South Carolina to move to Florida, Doug had fired a gun into the ceiling of their kitchen to get her to stop talking, threw a loaded gun at her, punched a hole through a wall and punched their dog in the face so hard it fell unconscious.
Taylor told the jury Ashley was a victim of domestic violence and the night Doug attacked her at her home, she was forced to shoot him out of fear for her own life.
“I was scared to death. I thought he was going to kill me. I didn’t know where to go. I was trapped,” Benefield told jurors last week.
“I have presented to you all that I possibly could show you the dynamics of what took place on that day and why they took place and what Ashley knew about Doug at the time. They took place to show you that her action and using deadly force was reasonable,” Taylor said to the jury during closing arguments. “The issue to be resolved in this case was going to be, was the force used justified? All of you pledged that if the State failed to prove their case, beyond reasonable doubt, the verdict would be not guilty.”
Prosecutors told the jury what happened to Doug was the result of a custody battle that Ashley would do anything to win.
“Domestic violence is a real problem,” Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O’Donnell said. “People that feel like they cannot get out, they have no way to get out. That is not this defendant and it never was. This defendant used domestic violence and allegations of it to make progress on her goal, and her goal was she wanted custody of that child at all costs.”
O’Donnell reminded the jury of testimony from a law enforcement officer who had an interaction with Ashley more than two years before the shooting took place.
“The conversations that she had with Detective Gillum are the entire crux of this case. It is her motive. It is her plan. It is what she did everything for. He said her true motives were to use the criminal system to affect her family court case to get sole custody of her child, which is what she wanted from the very beginning. He said it was very clear that she was trying to use the criminal system in that way and he was very uncomfortable with that. He had forwarded charges to the State Attorney’s Office and let the attorney’s office decide, which they end up not filing by the way, and she did not think that was enough. She was furious. She said ‘if the judge sees him arrested, it will help me keep my baby,'” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell finished her closing arguments by pointing out Ashley was the only one armed the night of the shooting. She also pointed out after shooting her husband and running to her neighbor’s house, she never asked for an ambulance.
“She did not have to shoot him. She had an agenda and it worked for what she wanted and she got what she wanted. Because after she killed him, what does she get? Sole custody of the child. And that is murder,” O’Donnell said.