Murder trial of former ballerina Ashley Benefield begins in Manatee County

Almost four years after a former ballerina was arrested in connection to the shooting death of her estranged husband in the fall of 2020 in Manatee County, she appeared in court Tuesday for the first day of her trial.

Ashley Benefield, 32, was arrested in November 2020 for the shooting that killed her husband, Doug Benefield, according to a probable cause affidavit. She was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm.

Last July, Ashley Benefield appeared in court asking a Manatee County Circuit judge to dismiss the case against her based on Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law, arguing that she fired the gun in self-defense. Judge Matt Whyte denied Benefield's motion, and an appellate court denied a motion by Benefield's attorney asking the court to find that Ashley Benefield was either entitled to immunity from prosecution or quash the trial court's order related to the immunity claim.

More: Trial for former Manatee County ballerina accused of killing husband: Here's what to know

A slow trickle of people entered the gallery as the trial began, with media members, Doug Benefield’s family and friends, members of Ashley Benefield’s legal team, those supporting Ashley Benefield and community members slowly filling the 10 wooden benches. The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.

Manatee County Circuit Court Judge Whyte formally began the trial just after 9 a.m. bringing in the nine-person jury who will decide whether the shooting on Sept. 27, 2020, was an act of self-defense by a domestic violence survivor or the calculated plan of a single mother who didn't want the father of her child involved in her life.

'The cost was the life of Doug Benefield'

“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 said during her opening. "And she did not want the father of this child to have any visitation. Her husband. And everything she did from that point on was to obtain that goal and she would stop at nothing to obtain that goal."

O'Donnell set the scene before the jury during her opening statements that Ashley Benefield had no intention of reconciling with her estranged husband before she shot and killed him on Sept. 27, 2020, in the home she shared with her mother.

The two met in 2016 at a political event and after a 13-day whirlwind romance were married. At the time, Ashley Benefield had been 24 years old, and Doug Benefield was 30 years her senior, according to previous reporting. During the first year of their marriage, the Benefields started a ballet company, which fell apart before it could take off. Ashley Benefield also became pregnant after convincing her husband to get a reverse vasectomy, O'Donnell said.

Then, Ashley Benefield moved to Florida, where she lived with her mother while Doug Benefield lived separately. The two never lived together again and she even stopped communicating with her husband.

Previous reporting: Former Florida ballerina evokes 'Stand Your Ground' in 2020 homicide of estranged husband

In an attempt to get in contact with his wife, Doug Benefield contacted a family attorney to write a letter to Ashley Benefield only to learn that his daughter was born when Ashley Benefield filed a restraining order against him, O'Donnell said. The judge in the case ruled against the order and said Doug had a right to see his daughter.

For the next year, the two appeared to reconcile their marriage, going to dinners and visiting Selby Gardens together, but O'Donnell said it wasn't what Ashley Benefield wanted.

Around the time of the shooting, the couple was packing to move to Maryland where they would continue to live separately. O'Donnell said Ashley Benefield had also filed five complaints against her husband, who filed for divorce. It was decided the two would go to see a psychologist who observed that Ashley Benefield acted differently around her husband than when she was alone.

The psychologist included those observations about Ashley Benefield not wanting to reconcile with her husband in a report expected to be released on Sept. 30. Upon publication, Doug Benefield would have learned the truth.

When Ashley Benefield couldn't get Doug Benefield to drop his consent to the report being released, she decided to shoot and kill him, O'Donnell told the jury.

"This was a custody battle that this mother was going to win at all costs," O'Donnell said. "And the cost was the life of Doug Benefield."

Keep reading: Former ballerina appeals for 'Stand Your Ground' immunity after judge denies motion

More reporting: Judge denies former Florida ballerina's Stand Your Ground claim in husband's fatal shooting

Defense lays foundation describing Ashley Benefield as domestic violence survivor

Ashley Benefield showed all the symptoms of a domestic violence survivor, Taylor said during his opening. She initially believed things would get better, and when they didn't, she developed a mentality to simply go along with whatever her husband did and was constantly walking on eggshells to not trigger an outburst and to protect her daughter, Taylor added.

Taylor described Doug Benefield as being an alleged victim in the case, adding that he was a "disturbed man" and obsessed with Ashley Benefield. Despite promoting himself as religious, honorable and a decent human being, he was deceptive and cunning, Taylor said.

During their four-year relationship, Taylor said that Doug Benefield had fired a gun into the ceiling of the couple's kitchen to get his wife to stop talking, threw a gun at Ashley Benefield, punched the family's dog so hard in the face he knocked it unconscious, consistently carried a loaded gun, placed a tracker on his wife's car and was observed following Ashley Benefield in his car in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

"There were acts that were admitted by Douglas Benefield himself," Taylor said. "Ashley Benefield feared him."

She left him three years before the homicide, leaving a letter detailing her fear of him and her fear for their unborn child. Despite this, Taylor said Doug Benefield continued to pursue his wife.

By Sept. 27, 2020, Doug Benefield knew that his relationship with Ashley Benefield was over and that while they could work out a co-parenting plan, they were otherwise done, Taylor said. Doug Benefield came to the house already simmering, and his actions as he helped with packing grew increasingly aggressive and hostile towards his wife.

Taylor said that evidence will show that Doug Benefield bodychecked Ashley Benefield in the hallway, shoved a box into her side leaving scratches and while his client tried to de-escalate the situation by wrapping up for the night, Doug Benefield wouldn't stop.

In the end, Ashley Benefield fired the gun in a panic as she was terrified and feared for her life after Doug Benefield physically assaulted her for the first time during their marriage, Taylor said.

Taylor laid the foundation in his opening of revealing how Ashley Benefield is a domestic violence survivor. He told the jury that by the end of the case, the one thing that would have been established beyond a reasonable doubt was that Doug Benefield was a violent abuser and despite her best efforts to placate him, Ashley Benefield was absolutely justified in firing the gun that night.

Gallery: Ashley Benefield claims stand your ground defense in shooting of her husband

More: Former ballerina accused of killing estranged husband in court for Stand Your Ground

Questioning about texts between Ashley Benefield and Tommie Benefield raises contentions

Tommie Benefield Jr., Douglas Benefield's first cousin, was the first witness to take the stand Tuesday morning and share with the jury what he recalled about his cousin's marriage to Ashley Benefield.

Similar to what he shared during the Stand Your Ground hearing a year ago, Tommie Benefield told the jury that when he first saw the couple together in Charleston, South Carolina, they had appeared to be in love. He added he'd only ever observed his cousin treating his wife with respect.

During cross-examination by Taylor, the defense attorney questioned Tommie Benefield about how he continued to call and text with Ashley Benefield after she'd moved to Florida. Taylor pointed specifically to texts Tommie Benefield allegedly wrote to Ashley Benefield expressing his support and that he was a fan.

However, when asked if Tommie Benefield had texted his cousin's wife that she had married the wrong Benefield, Tommie Benefield said he couldn't recall. Taylor produced a copy of texts between the two, with Tommie Benefield verifying the texts, but stating he didn't see that phrasing.

Taylor explained he was questioning the texts in which Tommie Benefield seemingly showed his support of Ashley Benefield and that he said that she'd married the wrong Benefield as a way to question his credibility since Doug Benefield had told him why his wife had left him.

O'Donnell argued that nowhere in the text did the phrasing appear that Ashley Benefield had married the wrong Benefield. Further, O'Donnell argued that nowhere in Tommie Benefield's testimony did he say anything about Ashley and Doug Benefield's relationship after she'd left, only how their relationship had appeared when Tommie had seen them.

"I’m unaware how that affects his credibility," O'Donnell said.

Whyte sustained the objection, allowing Taylor to ask Tommie Benefield if he felt he'd married the wrong Benefield. He also reminded counsel to confine their arguments to legal and factual basis and remain professional and avoid name-calling.

Tommie Benefield said he didn't believe Ashley Benefield had married the wrong Benefield. He added the texts were an attempt to keep communication alive between himself and Ashley Benefield.

Doug Benefield's daughter testifies about her father's relationship

Eva Benefield, 23, didn't recall seeing her father and Ashley Benefield argue during the times she'd seen them together. She said she'd heard Ashley Benefield strongly voice her opinions over and over and over again, but never saw the two verbally or physically fight.

Eva Benefield recalled learning about her father's new girlfriend when she was 15 years old. Just a couple days after learning about Ashley Benefield, she learned her father had gotten married just nine months after her mother's death.

While her father and Ashley Benefield acted "lovey-dovey," and her relationship with Ashley began friendly, Eva Benefield said Ashley Benefield began to try to take on a more motherly role, which she didn't appreciate as her mother's death hadn't been that long ago. So, whenever the two would disagree, Eva Benefield said Ashley Benefield would go to her husband and have a "temper tantrum" about how his daughter wasn't obeying her.

During Taylor's questioning, Eva Benefield confirmed that there had been a hole in the ceiling of the kitchen the size of a bullet round, that there had been a hole the size of a fist in the wall before her father patched it up and that her father had studied close quarters defense combat.

When asked whether her father had been "fixated" on Ashley Benefield, Eva Benefield responded: "I think they were fixated with each other."

911 call by neighbor on day of the shooting played for jury

As the prosecutor played the 911 call from Ashley Benefield's neighbor the day of the shooting, Ashley Benefield's shoulders slowly rose and curled in on themselves. At one point, the former ballerina could be seen wiping her eyes before a court deputy placed a box of tissues on the table before her.

In the call, as John Sant was speaking with the operator explaining that his neighbor had said she'd been attacked by her estranged husband and she'd fled to his house, someone can be heard sobbing in the background of the call.

"Calm down, honey, calm down," Sant can be heard saying on the call.

Sant recalled the Sunday Ashley Benefield appeared on his doorstep. He remembered someone pounding on his door, but when he checked through the window, he didn't see anyone. When the pounding happened a second time, he grabbed his own handgun from his bedroom before he opened his door to find Ashley Benefield standing on his doorstep, hysterical.

Sant told the jury that he hadn't observed any injuries, blood or ripped clothing on his neighbor, but that she appeared terrified and incoherent as she told him she'd shot her estranged husband. At the time of the shooting, her mother and daughter weren't at the house, but at a park, Sant testified.

When questioned by Taylor, Sant said he noticed that a spent shell casing was stuck between the front end of the slide and the bullet chamber of the handgun that Ashley Benefield had had in her possession when she showed up at his doorstep. He added it indicated that the gun had potentially been mishandled when it was fired.

A Manatee County Sheriff's deputy, who was one of the first on the scene of the shooting and is a part of the unit that patrol's the Lakewood Ranch area, testified following Sant that he'd placed Ashley Benefield in handcuffs and in the back of his patrol car before checking her house. Dept. Tom Baurle testified he observed a pair of legs from the knees down in the doorway of one of the bedrooms when he entered the house but didn't go in the room.

Wehn asked why he placed Ashley Benefield in handcuffs, the deputy said it was based on the circumstances of the call and for officer safety.

Taylor questioned whether Baurle remembered receiving a call about a suspicious person standing on the driveway of the home next door to Ashley Benefield's house about two years prior. The deputy said he couldn't recall the incident, despite his name being listed as the investigator on the incident report.

After reviewing the report, he said that MCSO had received a call at approximately 10 p.m. on May 7, 2018, from Ashley Benefield stating that there was someone standing on the driveway who was suspected to be Doug Benefield.

Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on X: @GabrielaSzyman3.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Murder trial of former ballerina Ashley Benefield in Manatee County