The Ashley Benefield Trial
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The former ballerina caught the older man's attention at the Donald Trump rally on August 25th, 2016. Ashley Byers had quit high school to dance, but a torn hamstring had destroyed her dreams. Now, in 2016, she was working for the Trump campaign. Doug Benefield was smitten with her, and within four days of meeting her at the rally, he professed his love to her.

And Ashley was charmed by him, too. Doug, who was recently widowed, was a Christian, just like she was. He was very confident in who he was, passionate about what he was doing for work. He was fascinating to talk to. What was it, if you recall in particular, that attracted you to him, Ashley? He was funny.

Very smart. Charming. We just instantly clicked. Doug flew Ashley to South Carolina. They had only known each other for 13 days when they eloped and got married. Ashley was 24. Doug was 54. They eventually had a daughter. At that point in your relationship, Ashley, describe for us the man you thought you'd marry.

He was very loving and attentive. He was always with me. We did everything together. We laughed a lot. And he made me feel very special and loved. Did he turn out to be who you thought he was? No, not at all. On today's episode, I'm covering a tragic case out of Manatee County, Florida.

Doug Benefield was dead, and Ashley Benefield went on trial for his murder. Both sides agreed that Ashley had killed him in their home in September 2020. This case is about a woman who very early on in her pregnancy decided she wanted to be a single mother. 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 attain that goal. And she would stop at nothing to attain that goal. She tried several things in the system that you'll hear. The courts, law enforcement, Department of Children and Families, no one got on her side. And at the end, when there was no other option, she shoots him and kills him and claims self-defense.

According to prosecutors, Ashley had a long history of filing complaints against Doug, accusing him of physical abuse and trying to poison her. And when the authorities didn't believe her allegations and sided with Doug, Ashley took matters into her own hands and murdered him. Now, you're probably going to hear a lot of information about Doug Benefield. Probably some negative things, not so nice things.

I would just ask you to remember who and why. Just because someone speaks words does not make it true. So use your common sense as you go through this trial. This is a long story with a lot of information, but you'll see that this was a custody battle that this mother was going to win at all costs. And the cost was the life of Doug Benefield. And that is murder.

But the defense argued that the shooting was in self-defense, that Ashley had feared for her life, and that her husband had become increasingly abusive and was controlling her. Despite being raised by a family who taught me that it was ill to speak about the dead in an unflattering sense, 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. Of that, I assure you, you'll have no doubt when the case is over. 30 years older than Ashley, he was obsessed with her. And he successfully portrayed himself as everything he was not before.

in an effort to win her hand in marriage. Despite promoting himself as a religious and decent human being, Doug Benefield was a manipulative, cunning, and abusive man, insisted, absolutely insisted on control. One star witness could sway the jury, and that was Ashley Benefield herself.

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In December 2015, Doug's prior wife had died unexpectedly at the age of 56 from an undiagnosed heart condition. One day, Doug surprised Eva with the news that he had a new bride who was closer in age to Eva than Doug. When did you first find out about someone named Ashley Benefield? It was August of 2016, about nine months after my mom passed. Okay. And how did you find out?

My dad was on the phone when he picked me up from school and he had his phone on speaker and they mentioned him having a girlfriend and if he was going to bring his girlfriend to a conference that they had that weekend. And was that the first time you had any information that there might have been a girlfriend? Yes. How old were you at the time? I was 15. At the time, were you upset with him about that?

No, I just told him that I trusted him. And if that's what made him happy, that I would be happy for him. And about how long after that did you find out they were married? It was two days after. And how did you find out that they were married? My dad came up into my room and he said, Eva, we need to have a chat downstairs with Ashley. She was at the house at the time. And, um,

I said, I don't think we need to. I understand that you're dating her and you're happy, but please just give me my space a little bit. I don't want to have a conversation. And he said, no, I think it's really important we do. And I said, the only time that I would want to have a conversation with y'all is if you told me that you were going to propose. And when those words came out of my mouth, he told me that they were married. So it turns out they were married. Yes. Okay.

Did Ashley eventually move into your house? Yes. And that was the house in South Carolina? Yes, ma'am. At the time, who all lived in the house? Just the three of you? Yes. How was their relationship together that you saw?

They were just with each other all the time. It was very lovey-dovey. They were very touchy-feely, PDA. Any event with school or extracurricular that I was in, they were together. They'd go grocery shopping together, go travel together. They never left each other's side. Okay. And how did you and Ashley get along? It was friendly at first.

Okay. You said it first? Yes. And then what happened? Over time, she...

tried to reprimand me a little bit more and kind of step into a motherly role. And I did not like that because it was so short after my mom passed away. According to court testimony, Ashley gave Eva a shadow box for Christmas. At the front of the box was a sand dollar she had painted. Ashley added an inspirational quote that seashells are beautiful things emerging from storms. The message, good things can happen from the bad.

But Eva took the shadow box apart and instead used the frame to hold a flower from her mother's funeral. This upset Ashley, who then went to Doug about it. Doug's new wife and his teenage daughter did not get along. Eva testified that she noticed Ashley overreacting about small things and throwing tantrums. She said Ashley argued with Doug and voiced her opinions while Doug would sit there quietly.

Eva was 23 when she testified for the prosecution at Ashley's trial in 2024. Did you ever see them fight? No. Verbally fight? No. Okay. Did you ever see them physically fight? No. How often would you say that Ashley's father would disagree within your hearing? Never. Okay. Okay.

You said if Ashley was trying to get her point across that she would go on and on about that? Yes. Okay. So you don't term that as a disagreement? No. Okay. What would you term that as? My dad just listened to her voice her concerns. Okay. Okay.

Did you ever hear your dad at any time yell at her? No. Did you ever hear your dad do something or say something that was controlling to her? No. Did you ever see or hear your dad threaten her? Overruled. Did you ever see or hear your dad threaten her? No. Did you ever see or hear your dad get physical with her? No.

Certainly, Doug and Ashley's marriage had big challenges ahead. The bride and the groom hardly knew each other. They had a 30-year age gap, and a still grieving Eva was struggling with her new stepmother. There was also a failed business. Doug and Ashley worked together to launch a ballet company that, according to media reports, gave talented but overlooked dancers the opportunity to perform.

Doug seemingly had the money and the connections, and Ashley knew the arts. But their dance company crumbled not long after they opened it, leaving dancers devastated and out of work. It undoubtedly added more stress to the couple's lives. Ashley would later testify that three months into the marriage, Doug was becoming possessive and controlling. She said he accused her of having a crush on her church pastor and that he called her a whore.

He started criticizing everything about me, the way I wear my hair or did my makeup or the way I dressed. I found myself trying to change everything about me to make him happy. If you had to pinpoint a specific incident, Ashley, early on that stands out to you, what would that be? A friend of his had come to town to visit and we went out to dinner with him.

And when we went to leave, Doug had had all too much to drink. And so I said that I would drive home. And he instantly got really mad at me. He was offended. He started screaming at me and continued all the way home. And when we got inside, I told him that he was drunk and he just needed to go to bed. And that really set him off.

And he tried to flip over the dining room table. He threw a chair at me. He kept screaming at me until he stopped. And then he apologized. And he said it would never happen again. He said he was really sorry. And Ashley, did it happen again? Yes.

Ashley testified that every time Doug blew up, he apologized and would be nice. And then, like a flip of a switch, he would lose control again. She said he once threw their cat, Snuffy, down the stairs. She felt like she was walking on eggshells. He put a tracker on her car and punched holes in their drywall. Was there an incident, Ashley, in June of 2017? No.

that you vividly recall. Yes. Please explain it. We were having an argument and it started getting really out of hand. He pulled a gun out and he was like waving it around and then he threw it at me and it hit the wall behind me, punched a hole in the wall. So I went to run to try to leave. He pulled the gun out and held it to his head.

He said that he's going to blow his fucking brains out and I was going to have to watch him. And he pulled the trigger and he shot a hole in the ceiling in the kitchen. He wasn't anything like I thought he was. I feel like I'd made a really big mistake marrying him.

Seems like I was living in this nightmare. Instead of divorcing, they had a baby together, a little girl. Ashley testified that the pregnancy wasn't planned, although she acknowledged that Doug had undergone a vasectomy reversal because they had wanted to start a family together. She said she felt sick during her pregnancy and went to move from South Carolina to live with her mom in Florida.

She thought she was going to leave Doug for good. She wrote him a note to say goodbye in September 2017. She also successfully filed for a domestic violence protective order in South Carolina to keep him from contacting her. Ashley also said she believed Doug was trying to poison her. According to Ashley's testimony, Doug violated the protective order and sent her a birthday gift in the mail,

Ashley testified that when she opened the tea set, she smelled strong, powerful chemicals. She claimed she got an instant headache and reported it to the police, who did not charge Doug with any crime. According to police, they found no evidence of chemicals. But about the same time as the ballet collapses, right about all of this time, Ashley Benefield starts complaints against the victim.

Her complaints are things like the main one was that Doug Benefield was poisoning her with heavy metals and her unborn child was being poisoned, that there was poison in her tea, that he was giving her poison.

There were also other complaints, domestic violence complaints, different types of complaints. But not once will you hear that she ever said he hit her. Not once did she ever say he choked her, kicked her, anything like that. Even though she's making these complaints, the victim, Doug Benefield, is still trying to make this work. And you're going to see some text messages and hear some things. He's still trying to make this work. But she is having none of it.

So at about the time that she's ready to give birth, Doug Benefield contacts an attorney here in Florida, Sarasota, Florida, Stephanie Murphy, and asks her to help and asks her to help him write a letter to her, to Ashley Benefield, to state that he wants to be a part of the birth and he wants to be a part of this child's life and to please keep in contact with him. Ashley never answers that letter.

That letter is sent via email on March 15th of 2018, which was several weeks early. She wasn't due yet. And the next day she is induced, her pregnancy is induced and she gives birth to a daughter. She never tells Doug. He doesn't even know his child is born for weeks. And she never responds to the letter. The way that Doug knows that this child is born is

is that Ashley Benefield starts filing complaints again. And based on these complaints, he figures out, oh, my child's born, and now we have more complaints. The complaints revolved around the poisoning and the things that I talked about earlier. And she filed for what's called a violation of injunction, or I'm sorry, she filed for an injunction. An injunction is our legal way of saying restraining order.

So when someone wants a restraining order, they have to go through a process and go to court and the court has to decide and you get a restraining order. So that was her process. She was trying to get a restraining order against Doug. And the allegations were what I said to you. At the same time, Doug Benefield had not seen his child, had not met his child. So he did a cross complaint to say, please let me have contact with my child. I've never even met my child.

So this was set for a hearing and it ended up going two days. It was long. It was a long process. A lot of witnesses in family court. And it ended up going two days. It began in July, July 30th, 2018. And it finished on September 17th, 2018. And at the conclusion of that hearing, the judge said, no, no, you are not getting a restraining order. And no, you cannot keep this man away from his child.

and granted Doug Benefield immediate visitation with his daughter. He met his daughter for the first time. She was six months old.

And at the time when they were exchanging custody, which was at the sheriff's office for meeting the child, all of this animus had been going on. I mean, they had just had these hearings and all of this. And at that first time sharing, that's what they call it nowadays in family courts, time sharing. At the first time sharing, Ashley starts becoming very nice to Doug and says, basically, I'll go with you for the visitation.

And that's what they do. The family goes off for visitation. And that begins a year, approximately a year, of basically them working on the relationship, going out to restaurants, doing things, hanging out together as a family. But they weren't a happy family. Ashley continued to file multiple complaints and accused Doug of physically and sexually abusing their daughter.

No charges were ever filed there either. The prosecutor would later tell the jury that they were false complaints and that Doug was still allowed to see his daughter. By 2020, the couple was co-parenting. They were both living in Florida, separately, but they were trying again to reconcile. According to prosecutors, there were two sides to Ashley. The Ashley who was telling Doug she wanted to be together,

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On that day, Doug and Ashley were moving stuff in a U-Haul, and tensions were high. Boxes everywhere. Furniture upended. A pod in the driveway. They were moving to Maryland, where Ashley's mom had inherited property.

Ashley and Doug were both moving north, but they weren't planning to live in one home together. The plan was that they were all going to pack up in the next few days and move to Maryland. And continue to try and work on their relationship. The problem was Ashley Benefield knew that this was a ruse. She didn't intend to reconcile. She didn't intend to try to make this work.

And the problem was there was a court hearing on September 30th of 2020. And at that court hearing, all of this was going to come out. It was going to come out that she was acting one way when she was by herself and she was acting another way when she was with Doug Benefield. That she was telling him she wanted to work on things, that she wanted to get this marriage back together. But yet when separate, she was saying she had absolutely no intention of reconciling, did not want him around again.

and did not want this to work. On the 30th of September, this was going to come out. On the 27th of September, she shoots him and kills him. Three days before this hearing and three days before this information was to become public. Here's the defense's version of events. He is simmering when he arrives at Ashley's home on that morning, that afternoon.

Why is he simmering? He's on a slow boil, actually, because he knows that Ashley's moving. He knows that this relationship is over. And immediately there's a discussion about how they should pack the belongings, with Ashley taking the position that her belongings should be packed last. Why? Because Ashley's...

things are going to be unloaded first. And Doug will then continue on to wherever it is that he was going to reside. So this is the most vulnerable time for a domestic violence victim. When the abuser recognizes that he's about to lose her. So what's his response to this? All right. Classic tactics of an abuser.

They are threats and intimidation on this afternoon as the two of them are trying to pack this U-Haul in this pod. In an effort to avoid confrontation with him, Ashley says after a short while, gee, you know, I'm really pretty exhausted. Why don't we stop for the day? We can finish tomorrow. Doug ignores it.

His response is to grow increasingly aggressive and hostile. When Ashley took the stand, she told the court that Doug got really offended and upset with her when he noticed that she was keeping her items separate from his. She said he told her it shouldn't be your stuff, my stuff, your house, my house. She said he told her she needed to start acting like a wife.

Ashley told the jury she tried to change the subject when she saw how upset he was getting. But he would just get more upset, aggressive, and threatening. In response, Ashley said she tried to get him to leave, saying they should probably end it and be done for the day. He disregarded her. Ashley, would you tell us if there came a time shortly thereafter where there was physical contact between the two of you? Yes. Tell us about it.

We were in the living room, and as he came up to me, instead of walking past me, he walked right into me. Like a body check, he, like, bumped me. His shoulder to your shoulder? Yes. And describe for us, if you can, the force of the bump. It caught me off guard. I almost fell. I, like, stumbled.

How was he acting at that point? He was clearly hostile. He was mumbling under his breath and was glaring at me. What was your concern? I could see that it was escalating and I didn't want him to blow up at me. Was there a second instance of physical contact? Yes. Tell us about that, please. We were in the garage and...

It was very much like the living room. I had just suggested strongly that I wanted to be done for the day. And he, as he came up to me, he walked right into me. Again, body checked me. Finally, was there a third instance of contact? Yes. What happened? We were in the hallway and...

We were coming opposite directions towards each other, and he had a box. And as he walked up to me, he looked me in the eye, and he drove the corner of the box up into me. Where? My side. Indicating on your right side? Yes, sir. In the hip area? Yes, sir. Ashley said her response was to apologize to him. Why would you have apologized?

because I could see how upset he was and I didn't want him to get more mad at me. Where does Doug go after that incident? He continued to the garage with the box. And what happens at that point? We started getting into a back and forth about being done for the day and what still needed to be packed and that I wanted to be done and

We ended up in our daughter's bedroom and he started screaming at me. He said, shut the fuck up. He started calling me names and he said, I can see what you're doing. You're trying to get me to leave. She said, I don't have to leave. I can stay and spend the night if I want to because I'm her husband. At that point, Ashley, how did you feel with respect to your own personal safety? I was scared. I was scared.

Did you take any steps to try to avoid anything further? Yes, I ran to try to leave the house. And where did you run to? To the front door. Did you make it? No. Tell us what happened. He stopped me. He grabbed me by the hand and he yanked me back. I'm not really sure how he did it, but he like

spun around so he was in front of me between me and the door so he said i'm sorry go ahead he said where the fuck do you think you're going what was your response do you specifically recall tell us just blurted it out i said i'm done and you need to leave now what was doug's reaction to that command to leave now he said you can't fucking leave me

Then what happens? He hit me in the side of the head. The defense entered a photo of her injury into evidence. It's a picture of my face. Is it an accurate picture of what your face looked like on that night? Yes, sir. Who took that photograph? I don't remember her name. She was at the sheriff's office. At the sheriff's office? Okay. Now...

What is it about that photograph that shows or reflects the slap or the hit that you got to the side of your head on that day by Doug? Um,

That side of my face is swollen, puffy, and discolored around my eye. And is your eyelid drooping? Yes. On the side where you were hit? Yes. What was different at that moment, Ashley, than at any time in your prior relationship with Doug? He'd never actually hit me before. What did you do? I ran.

Where? To my room. Why? Because I was scared. Ashley, did you have anything in your room that could protect you? I had my gun. Ashley told the jury she kept a pistol in a storage bin on top of her laundry basket. She pulled it out and held it in her hand. She said she then heard the sound of the bedroom door hitting the doorstop as it was flung open.

And what do you see, Ashley, when you look up? Doug was standing in the doorway. His face was red. The veins were bulging in his neck. The way he was looking at me didn't even look like Doug. His eyes were black. Does he yell anything at you? He said, you're fucking done. What does he do at that point?

I held the gun in front of me and I said, stop. And he turned and he got into this fighting stance. I got low and he started moving his arms and his hands around. He was making these jerking motions. What were you expecting when you were holding the gun out in front of you and you told him to stop?

I thought when he saw it, he would leave. Did he? No. At that point, Ashley, what are you thinking? She testified that he started coming towards her. And then he lunged at me. And I started pulling the trigger. And then he kept coming at me.

Ashley, would you tell us why, if you're holding a loaded firearm, you were attempting to move away? I was taken away from him. I was terrified. She said he kept advancing as she fired. Then it was like his feet slipped out from under him and his legs went up in the air. She said her immediate reaction when Doug hit the floor was to run and go get help.

Can you tell us how many shots you fired? I have no idea. I was in a panic. Do you remember anything about the shooting beyond what you've told us here? It was a blur. Where did you run for help, Ashley? To my neighbor's house. Ashley, I have to ask you a couple of very difficult questions. You okay? Yeah, sorry.

Ashley, tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury why you shot Doug. I was scared to death. I thought he was going to kill me. I had nowhere to go. I was trapped. I don't know how else he wouldn't let me leave. As you sit here today, Ashley, how do you feel about what happened? Horrible.

He's the father of my child. So I'm going to have to explain it all to her. Judge, I wonder, could we have a minute, maybe a brief recess, like, of her components herself? The jury took a break so Ashley could take a deep breath before she returned to the stand. When she got back, prosecutor Suzanne O'Donnell was ready to cross-examine her. For the state, you may begin your cross-examination.

I would like to just start with a couple of issues. So first, Doug Benefield never punched you ever, correct? Yeah, I think that's correct. Doug Benefield never choked you ever? No. He never kicked you? No. He never pointed a gun at you? He waved a gun in my direction.

But it was not pointed at you, correct? It was pointed at me while he was waving it at me. He never came at you with a knife? No. Or a club? No. Or a baseball bat? No. So there are 30 years difference between you and Doug, correct? Yes. And you got married after 13 days? Yes. And you spoke with him about or organized with him about starting this ballet? Yes.

Yes. And all of the money for the ballet came from him or investors, right? My mom also funded part of the ballet. You didn't put anything into it? Not from my account, no. In fact, during this time in South Carolina, he never worked, did you? He wouldn't let me work. Okay.

On direct, Ashley had made mention of Doug having a gun on him in his car. Prosecutor O'Donnell asked her if both she and Doug used to carry guns on a regular basis. You have had at the time more than one gun. Yes, ma'am. And you actually bragged as well as Doug about having guns, correct?

Yes. And you would go shoot them on a regular basis? I haven't been to their range since before the presidential election. Okay. But during the time that you met Doug at a political event, you had one of the guns in your bra? Yes, that's where I concealed carried. Okay. So having a firearm in a car or in the house is not that unusual to you? No, ma'am.

Prosecutor O'Donnell clarified the injunction that was filed prior to Ashley moving to Florida. Ashley agreed that the injunction stated that neither party shall harass, threaten or do those types of things to each other. So then after you're in Florida, you get a package that you say was in violation of this injunction. And it's a birthday present, right? Yes. It's a tea set.

Among other things, yes, ma'am. And you liked tea? I like drinking tea, yes, ma'am. You drank tea all the time with Zach? Yes. Okay. And you opened this tea and you claimed that it smelled so strongly that you automatically rushed it to the sheriff's office. I didn't specifically sniff the tea. It was when I opened the box, the whole thing.

contents had a very strong chemical smell. So you immediately rushed it over to the sheriff's office? No, ma'am. I immediately sealed it up and I left it in my garage. For how long? I don't remember specifically. It was like maybe a day or two. I don't remember. It was a little bit longer than a day or two, was it not? I don't remember. So after this time goes by, you take it to the sheriff's office and you claim that this was a violation of injunction.

It was. Yes, ma'am. And you also claim that this was all part of Doug's poisoning scheme to poison you and your unborn child. Has Matt informed me that there was toxic chemicals? I don't want to hear what someone else told you. I want to hear what you claimed, that this was part of his poisoning of you, planned to poison you.

She agreed that no charges were ever filed for that.

So you filed for an injunction based on the same allegations, right? When my injunction in South Carolina was getting ready to expire, yes, I filed for one in Florida. Okay. So when you filed in Florida, about what time was this? What date? I could give you a ballpark. It was in the spring. I don't remember exactly when. Spring of 2018? Yeah.

Yes, ma'am. Okay. So you had left Doug in South Carolina August of 2017. Yes, ma'am. And you filed for an injunction in the spring of 2018. That sounds right. But you hadn't been living with him, correct? Correct. You hadn't even had any contact with him for a very long time when you filed for that injunction, right? Other than him sending the box and, yeah. Okay.

So what violence were you trying to prohibit by filing this injunction? Everything that happened in South Carolina. I was just hoping it wouldn't happen again. Okay.

And at the same time you did this motion for an injunction, you also did a motion to terminate Doug's parental rights, right? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So during this time that you haven't been with him in almost a year, at least half a year, there hasn't been any violence other than you say the tea set.

You're filing for an injunction all at the same time that you're trying to terminate his parental rights. This is all correct, right? Sounds correct. And you hadn't even had the baby yet. As of when? As of the time that you were trying to terminate his parental rights. I don't remember what the date was, but it would have all been around that time. When she got to the details of the shooting, Prosecutor O'Donnell had Ashley clarify the moments just prior to the shots being fired.

He came and slammed the door open. He was standing in the doorway. He said, you're fucking done. He said, you're fucking done. And that made you fear for your life? Yeah. Can we turn the lights up, please? Thank you. So he says, you're fucking done, and you point the gun and you shoot. I held it out in front of me first so he could see it. And I said, stop. Judge, if I could have her step down so she can demonstrate what she's doing.

I'll see you, babe. Prosecutor O'Donnell asked Ashley to reenact the shooting. Crying, Ashley stood up in front of the jurors and tried to mimic Doug's fighting stance that she had described earlier. She hunched her shoulders and wildly gestured her arms. She said Doug was almost like a ninja. Why do you call it a fighting stance? I don't think I'm a fighter. I don't think I'm a fighter.

I don't know, like a ninja or something, I don't know. Okay, so he's standing there. He turns like this and starts moving his arms around. Oh my God. Well, show me. What was he doing? He didn't like that. He got like this. And he was like making like fighting motions. I don't know. I'm not a fighter. I don't know. Okay. It was scary. Did he have his hands and fists? Not at that point. They were like... I don't know. Was he coming at you like this?

And he lunged at me, he came right quickly. Okay, so he lunged. Was his fist up when he lunged? A crime lab analyst from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement testified that the gun Ashley used, a .45 automatic pistol, fired four bullets that day. The medical examiner, Dr. Russell Vega, testified that Doug was shot three times. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to his chest.

He was also shot in the right shoulder and right leg. He had a swollen bruise on the back of his head that was consistent with falling backward and striking his head. Dr. Vega then described the gunshot wounds to the jury.

And you said it was essentially horizontal? Yes. Was it, it wasn't front to back like it went straight through. Can you describe it? Certainly. I mean, it went through an angled path through the body and that angle took it from the front toward the back, but at a greater angle from right to left. Thank you. And you said that it struck his ribs and his lungs and his vertebral spine.

His vertebral body. Thank you. His spine. His spine. Yes. And would that injury have been immediately fatal? Probably not. And would it have incapacitated, if you can say, incapacitated Mr. Binnenfield quickly? I think it would have incapacitated him quickly. Whether or not it was immediate, I don't think one can predict. Thank you, sir. I'm now going to take you to the arm wound. Was this wound different from the wound we saw in Mr. Binnenfield's chest? Yes. Yes.

And how so? And for the record, it states 91. Yes. What one can maybe not clearly appreciate just from viewing the photo, but was clearly evident at the time of the examination, is that this is only a surface wound. So what you see as the mark on the skin here is the full extent of this injury. So it's an abrasion or a scrape on the skin, but outside of the effect on the skin, nothing deeper was involved with this injury.

Thank you, sir. And then you said, finally, you said he was also shot in the leg. Is that correct? That's correct. So I'm going to show you States 92. Can you orient the jury as to what we're looking at on Mr. Benefield's body? Yes. And this is a little bit of a tough one orientation-wise, but the injury is to the back of his leg. So what we're seeing here is the back of the leg and it's, excuse me, the...

calf area here. This is a perforation of that calf. Yeah, I think that's the best way to describe it, the calf area. And the first, the chest wound we saw entered and did not exit, was this wound the same or was it different? It was different. Ashley Benefield's trial was getting national attention, appearing on multiple crime shows like 2020. Circuit Court Judge Matt White had to navigate the media circus in his courtroom.

Before Eva, Doug's daughter, testified, the judge spoke with the defense and the prosecution outside of the jury's presence about Eva being interviewed by a news channel in the hallway after trial was out of session. Eva was called back into the courtroom after her testimony. She had been caught off guard by the reporter and was feeling emotional. She said she didn't talk about the trial, just her emotional state and about her dad's character.

Meanwhile, Judge White dealt with other issues, too. Ma'am, the reason I'm calling the jurors out individually is because this morning I was provided a letter from a law firm in West Palm Beach, and they claim to represent an anonymous reporter. And here's what the letter says, essentially. During the lunch break yesterday, the news recorder walked to a restaurant near the courthouse for lunch. Inside, there was a large screen television playing coverage and commentary of the trial.

Additionally, two individuals in the restaurant were discussing a witness's testimony. The conversation occurred with an earshot of a man who the news reporter recognized to be a juror in the case. So I'm bringing everybody out to say, are you familiar with this? Did you see any of this? Have you done anything to look at or hear anything outside of this courtroom? The juror said she did not.

The high-profile murder trial continued on. Various law enforcement officials and attorneys who had interacted with Doug and Ashley took the stand. Manatee County Detective Chris Gillum, who spent more than three decades in law enforcement, testified that he got involved after Ashley reported that Doug had violated the domestic violence injunction.

He said Ashley contacted him 30 to 40 times requesting the status of her case and asking if Doug was going to be arrested. She said she wanted Doug arrested in the courtroom in front of the judge. Detective Gillum testified that he told her that was absolutely not going to happen. And how did she take that? She was upset. And at that point, um,

I would call it a dramatic cry, hysterical cry started happening. And I'm still informing her, we're not going to do that. We're just not going to arrest him in the courtroom. And she made a comment, something to the effect of, if the judge sees you arrest him, this will help me keep my baby. So I thought that was a pretty bold statement. And I'm like, I'm still trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. She just gave birth.

Maybe she's confused. And I'm trying to explain to her gently, that's just not going to happen, especially not going to happen for a judge to see to help you in a civil matter. And did you, in fact, explain all that to her? Yes, I did. And how did she react? We went back and forth five minutes or so. We just kept requesting to arrest him. I said, that's not going to happen. And her tone turned from

The crying to very aggressive. And she says, you will effing arrest him in front of the judge and I will make sure you do it. What did you say to that? I started pushing back a little bit and I said, it's not going to happen. Whatever you say or do, you cannot make me arrest somebody in front of a judge and it's just not going to happen. And what did she do? I guess she started crying again and came out with a comment. Something of I can't believe you're willing to allow Doug to

to kill me and the baby. Okay. And that hadn't come up in this phone call. The phone call dealt with me arresting Doug in front of a judge, and then it turned to arresting, or not arresting him and allowing me to let him kill her and the baby. Okay. So that seemed kind of different to you. Yes. Than what you had previously been doing. Yes. Okay. How long did this

conversation go on 20 to 30 minutes for the for up to that time it's probably 20 to 30 minutes okay and during this time excuse me did the defendant ever seem to understand the process of what you were saying no and at some point did she change from crying again she did what did she do

It just abruptly changed, and she let out like a screech or a high-pitched scream. And she says, I'll do whatever I have to do to kill my baby or keep my baby, you a-hole. Okay. So it's a high-pitched scream. Did you say scream or screech? Like a screech at first, but it was a—I'll call it a screech. A screech. Yeah. And tell me, what volume is this? I could just say it's a very loud, maybe—

top of lung type scream. And after she said that, what'd she do? At that point, I had checked out of the phone call and I was pretty much ready to just hang up the phone on her. And she accused me of conspiring with Doug to get her baby taken away. And had you even spoken to Doug about custody of the child? No. Okay.

Were there other detectives around you at the time of this phone call? Yes, there were two other detectives. And do you recall their names? Oh, yes. Detective Patricia Hetrick and Detective Brian Moreland. And did they appear to recognize that you were on a difficult call? Oh, they did. And at one point, Brian even asked me if I needed some help. And at some point, how did the phone call end? Ms. Penifield terminated the phone call.

And you seem to have a good memory of this call. Yes. And why do you have a good memory of this call? Because in my 12 years of doing this, I've never had anybody ask me to arrest someone in front of a judge inside of a courtroom.

Now, I have had people call me before and say somebody may be appearing in court that I'm looking for so I can arrest them. But I never have somebody say, wait until he's inside the courtroom in front of the judge.

Family law attorney Stephanie Murphy, who represented Doug during his custody battle with Ashley, testified about how Doug didn't know his daughter had been born until she was six weeks old. He only discovered his daughter's name and her birthday because Ashley had filed a domestic violence petition. What generally were the allegations in the injunction petition? Generally, Ms. Banfield was alleging that Doug had...

been violent toward her. She alleged that he hit the dog, fired a gun into the ceiling. The biggest allegation was that he was poisoning her and their child in utero with heavy metals. She said Ashley's injunction was denied for lack of evidence. And so Doug could finally meet his now six-month-old daughter. Murphy testified about that meeting.

It was just an odd kind of interaction, actually. She turned to me with this nasty look on her face and said to Doug... I'll sustain this to the characterization. She turned to Doug and said, are you dating her? And so, obviously, we both said, well, of course not, no. And then I hung back, and Doug then...

was standing there and Ashley approached him with Emerson and they started talking. Eventually she let him hold the baby and they just kept talking for a few minutes. Then I was advised that they were going to be leaving together, strangely, that Ashley was going to be going with them for the time sharing. Was this a surprise to you?

Absolutely. We had just been in knock down, drag out litigation for months with just horrendous allegations that were unfounded. And yet she said, I want to go with you. And he said, OK. Objection to the characterization of the allegations being unfounded and continued editorializing by this witness. Sustained.

So when they told you they were going together, what was your response?

I pulled Doug aside and I cautioned him about going with her. I advised his attorney. And so I did advise him. I said, this isn't a good idea. She's trying to set you up for something. Don't do this. And he said, I understand. I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. And so I stayed and observed as Ashley strapped the car seat into the back of the truck. And she got in the truck with Doug. And then they left.

Together for his first time sharing with his baby. Okay. For their baby. She said within a week, the two agreed to give Doug more time with his daughter, even more than the judge gave. That was the beginning of a time of peace that extended for quite a period of time. And during this time, well, how long did that last, the peace? It lasted, to my knowledge, about 11 months. Prosecutor O'Donnell gave the closing arguments for the state.

Domestic violence is absolutely a real problem. There are many, many women around that are in horrendous situations. Women and sometimes men that are in situations where they're being abused and beaten horribly on a regular basis. People that feel like they cannot get out. They have no way to get out. That is not this defendant. And it never was. Now, some of those women are

who are victims of horrible domestic violence may be justified in a situation where they have to use self-defense to kill their abuser. Absolutely. There can be situations where that might be a valid point, but not for this defendant. This defendant used domestic violence and allegations of it to justify

to make progress on her goal. And her goal was she wanted sole custody of that child at all costs. She said clearly on the date of the shooting, the two were getting along, or at least Doug thought they were. If you look at the text messages between the two of them, if you go by the information that you had from the witness stand that Ashley was acting nice, she was acting like they were going to try and reconcile in Maryland.

They were moving together. They were using the same truck. He was coming to her house to help her move the heavy things. So they were getting along. They actually went to the mediation during this time. It was about three days before she killed him. They had mediation where they said they were going to drop everything, move into Maryland, everything's going to be fine. But obviously that was not Ashley Benefield's plan.

Because she knew she wasn't going to drop the injunction. She said Doug had a right to be at the house that day. Ashley had invited him, as proven by their text messages. She clearly was not afraid, so she had him over. And then her mother clearly was not afraid for her, because then as soon as he gets there, she goes to the park with the daughter. So nobody's afraid at this point for Ashley Benefield's safety. And there's only one person who

who knows what happened in that house that is still alive. And that's Ashley Benefield. She told the jury that they would have to judge Ashley's credibility and the truthfulness of what she said. See if it matches the evidence in the case, she said. She brought up how on cross, Ashley had two methods for answering questions she didn't want to answer. She would either say, I don't know, or start crying. Did you ever see one tear fall

come out of her eyes. Did you ever see one drop of liquid? One red eye? One swollen eye? She had a breakdown. We had to take a break. Crying hysterically. Takes a stand right after that. Eyes are just fine. Makeup's just fine. That goes to her credibility. What is she trying to convey to you? The truth or her version of events? She then went over Ashley's testimony piece by piece. She said...

During this move that Doug bumps her on the shoulder a couple of times, a body check or something. She didn't really act that out very well. Who knows what that was. Doug carrying a box, rammed a box into her stomach and scratched her. Did you see those pictures? Does that scratch look like a scratch from a cardboard box? I mean, wouldn't you expect a bruise to be there as well? You'll have the pictures in the back.

So look at those pictures and see there's no bruising. They look like cat scratches. The defendant also said when they were by the front door to the house that he grabbed her by the wrist and hit her in the head. So when I asked her, okay, what do you mean hit? Well, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Was it an open hand? Was it a closed hand? What was it? I don't know. I don't know. She should know if a grown man balled up his fist and punched her in the side of the head and there would be a lot more damage.

than what she claimed she had. But she didn't know. He just hit her. Now, four people testified that they saw her after this incident, very shortly after this incident. Well, one of them was three days later, but the rest of them were very shortly after this incident. John Sands, the neighbor, he didn't see any swelling. He didn't see any injuries. He didn't see any disheveled clothes like there'd been a, you know, rumble.

Detective or Officer Burrell, Deputy Burrell, was the one that put her in the back of his squad car. No injuries. Didn't notice any injuries to her head or swelling to her face. Crime scene tech Devorah took pictures. Didn't notice any injuries, any swelling to the face. Three days later, crime scene tech Conlon takes pictures just to make sure because bruises don't always come up right away.

that she's not bruised. No bruises, no swelling, no nothing. But yet the defendant sits right here and tries to tell you that her eye was droopy and the side over here was swollen. Prosecutor O'Donnell also focused on Ashley's testimony describing Doug's fighting stance. It just didn't add up, she said. This was the wound that killed him and he was not facing her at the time.

The defendant trying to say he was in a fighting stance, he lunged at me. That is just her once again trying to manipulate the system. She's trying to manipulate you to believe that this was necessary, he was coming at me. But the physical evidence does not bear that out. It does not show that he was coming at her and that she had to shoot him. And afterwards, she runs over to the neighbor's house and

Not once do you hear her say, get an ambulance. I don't know if he's still alive. You know, I had to do it, but somebody help him. Not once. Not once did you ever hear any concern that I just shot another human being, regardless of what the facts are. Remember, the defendant sat right there and said the defendant never punched her ever.

Never choked her, never kicked her, never came at her with a knife, never came at her with a club, never came at her with a bat. And she was the only person armed in that room. Doug Benefield was not armed. He had no weapons. He was laying on the floor dying. And she goes to the neighbor and not once asks for an ambulance. And he dies either on the way to the hospital or in the hospital.

She was the only one armed and it was not necessary. She did not have to shoot him. It was not reasonable. 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 did she get? Sole custody of the child. And that's murder.

Ashley's attorney, Neil Taylor, went next. He brought up online searches that Ashley had done six months prior to the killing, where she searched how to co-parent with an abusive spouse and how to get along with an abusive spouse. In my opening statement, I told you two things.

I said that at the conclusion of the case, those were the only two things that would be established beyond the reasonable doubt. The first one was that Doug Benefield was a very sick guy. I think there's no doubt of that. The second thing was that Ashley's action on that day, September 27th, 2020, was absolutely justified.

Doug Benefield shoots a gun into the ceiling of their kitchen to intimidate Ashley to stop speaking. Now, those are easy words for me to speak, and they fall on ears and you move on to the next thing. But I want you to try to imagine how it would feel. How would one feel sitting in their kitchen?

Having their husband pull out a gun and actually fire it into the ceiling of their kitchen. Can you imagine the trauma of such a statement? Do you think that that's something that you forget about after six months, after a year? I think that's something you remember for the rest of your life. You never forget it. Throwing a loaded gun at Ashley Benefield.

threatening suicide, not only to Ashley, but to his former wife, Renee. You've got a copy of her text message that she wrote to Doug, kicking her on their honeymoon and threatening suicide. So this is twice now, not only with Ashley, but with his prior wife. He said Ashley was an abused woman trying to protect her child. That's what mommies do.

And I think we can agree that if the state's case does not meet that threshold of beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt, your verdict must be not guilty. Ashley Benefield got on the stand and endured over two hours of cross-examination. It was our perception that the state never landed a blow in over two hours.

That's two hours in addition to the hour and a half that I had her up there on direct examination. In the world in which we live, it sounds strange to try to reduce an event like this to an explanation within an hour and a half. But this is the only form that we have to resolve things like that. So we did it.

And Ashley got up there and she explained to you exactly what happened. And she did it well. And the state never touched her. The judge is going to tell you in your instructions, you can take into account what she knew about the domestic history with Doug, the size differential between Doug and Ashley. Ladies and gentlemen, Ashley Benefield is not guilty of murder in the second degree.

She's also not guilty of manslaughter. The jury deliberated for nearly seven hours. The verdict? Ashley Benefield was guilty. But she wasn't convicted of second-degree murder. She was convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. And here's where things got even more complicated.

Originally, Ashley was scheduled to be sentenced on October 22nd, but the court date got pushed back until December. Ashley's defense team argued that she deserved a new trial and expressed concerns about inappropriate jury behavior amid claims of a hidden cell phone in the deliberation room and another juror lying about her past.

According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, the judge brought the jury into a closed-door meeting, one by one, to ask them questions. The jurors told the judge that they hadn't brought cell phones into the jury room or seen anyone else with a cell phone during their deliberations.

The defense believed one juror had been posting live updates on Law & Crime's Verdict Watch livestream about what was happening behind closed doors. The juror had allegedly snuck in a cell phone. Ashley's defense accused another juror of lying about her history on the juror questionnaire.

Juror 15 had not disclosed any history of domestic violence during the voir dire process, but the defense said that wasn't true. There were at least three cases in Manatee County where juror 15 had been involved as either the victim or the suspect in cases against her ex-husband. Juror 15's ex-husband had sought an injunction against her to get custody of their child, accusing juror 15 of child abuse.

And another time, the ex-husband grabbed Juror 15's hair and slapped her in the face several times, according to the court documents. Judge White asked Juror 15 why she hadn't revealed her past when all the jurors had been asked. Jurors were questioned if they were ever victims of a crime or had been involved in domestic violence disputes. But Juror 15 had not lifted her paddle when asked.

Juror 15 told the judge that she got confused. She didn't think of herself as a victim of a crime because she thought of domestic violence as being shot or raped. It didn't occur to me that it meant domestic violence, she told the judge. Why didn't juror 15 disclose the domestic violence? Two injunctions had been filed against her. Juror 15 said both cases had been dismissed, so she no longer considered herself involved in them.

All of this was ammunition for Ashley's defense post-trial. The allegations of threats, domestic violence, concerns about mental stability, and issues related to child custody made in the petitions filed against Juror 15 closely resemble the assertions Ashley Benefield made against Doug in previous court proceedings and during her testimony at trial, the defense said in a court motion.

Given those similarities, had Juror 15 properly answered the questions about her involvement in domestic violence courts, it is clear that Ms. Benefield and her attorney would have strongly suspected that Juror 15 would have sympathy for Douglas Benefield. The defense demanded a new trial. The prosecution asked the judge to deny the defense's request and downplayed their claims.

They contended that juror 15 might actually be more biased towards the defense than the prosecution, saying she would have likely believed the defense's self-defense theory. They also argued that a different juror had admitted to experiencing an abusive partner, but that the defense hadn't used a peremptory challenge to get that person thrown off the jury. Judge White wasn't swayed by the defense's motion, and Ashley's sentencing was back on track on December 3rd.

Ashley wasn't getting a new trial, at least not right now. Before Ashley learned her fate, several witnesses took the stand to give victim impact statements. It was going to be a tense hearing with Doug's family attacking Ashley, forcing the judge to speak out in the courtroom and remind them to talk only about Doug's personality and his impact on the community.

Doug's youngest brother, David King Benefield, told the jury what his family had been through after Doug died. At first, it was a blur, he said. He didn't cry when he learned of his brother's death. He was too numb and too busy. They got a U-Haul with Doug's belongings and reconnected with Eva. They had to pay bills, decide what to do with Doug's stuff and with his body.

After the autopsy, Doug was cremated. His brother wanted to see him one last time to make sure it was real. Finally, looking through the glass of the crematorium and seeing Doug lying there, David could let go of his emotions and finally began to weep uncontrollably. He gasped for breath. He was crying so hard.

David said that in between those tears, he had a moment of clarity. He found his faith. He prayed. He thought of all the reasons he loved his brother, how his brother supported him during his first wrestling match or taking him to a holiday concert when David didn't have any money in college. Doug was a hero in his life. David testified that his brother had the best laugh. He was generous. He was artistic. He was caring. He made life more exciting.

Doug's older brother, Wes Benefield, asked the courts to sentence Ashley to the longest sentence possible. We all know now what Ashley has done by murdering Doug in cold blood. Ashley doesn't care. She didn't care about Doug. She did not care about Eva. Ashley treated Eva horribly. While Doug and Ashley were under the same roof in the beginning of their marriage. When Ashley had Emerson, their daughter, Ashley did not even tell Doug that she was born.

As he found out in the jury trial, Ashley did not even recognize Doug as the father on the birth certificate. That's my understanding. Excuse me, I apologize for interrupting. I don't think tacking the defendant is part of a victim-aimed attack statement, so I apologize. Ask the witness to move on to a different part of the statement. I'll sustain. During the jury trial, Ashley would occasionally look at me and my family with this arrogant smirk.

Showing that she... Sustained. In conclusion, I respectfully ask for the full sentence of incarceration due to the cold-blooded murder of Doug Benefield. I'll give you one last example of how we know Ashley doesn't care about Doug and the Benefield family. Sustained.

Eva returned to the courtroom to testify about all the good in her dad. He always woke up early and texted her a Bible verse and a good morning pumpkin message. He was always accessible by phone or text since he didn't live close to her. Ever since Eva's mom died, her only biological parent promised to be there. Doug would step out of a meeting if Eva ever called.

But on September 28th, Eva woke up to no message, no hello pumpkin, no biblical quote. She told the court about her frantic attempts to reach him. It was all in vain. 9.24 a.m. Good morning. 10.42. Hello.

10 43. You're kind of scaring me. 11 20. You should definitely text me. So I know you're okay. 11 48. I'm about to text Ashley. 11 49. Just kidding. I don't have her number. 12 03. This is freaking me out. 12 55. Please, please, please answer. 12 56. Great. Now my texts aren't going through 12 57. I hate this so much.

It was about an hour later that I received a phone call from my uncles that my dad had been shot the night before. Is he okay? I asked. My uncle responded with a hesitant no. My next question before hanging up the phone was, she did it, didn't she? Eva also spoke directly to Ashley, who sat stone-faced in the courtroom, asking her why she did it. Then there was this tense exchange between the judge and the prosecutor after the defense attorney once again objected.

Not even a year later, he met you during what I imagined to be a very lonely part of his life. You decided to put on your biggest act of your career and pretend everything pretend to be everything he needed to fill a void. I watched him. And judge, I think she can talk about her dad and how he took this in and was kind, even emotionally.

If that's where it's going, but as I've said multiple times, and as I'm pretty sure I confirmed before we started, that you, the state had gone over with its witnesses the appropriate, the nature and extent of an appropriate victim impact. I just have a difference of opinion as to what they're allowed to say, Judge. So it's difficult for me to... I'm going by the Florida law. ...for death penalty cases. And I said that it's appropriate. I think there are good guidelines...

The defense argued that Ashley needed a lighter punishment, while the prosecution said she deserved the max. Ashley remained silent. She did not address Doug's family or the judge before he sentenced her to 20 years in Florida State Prison with credit for time served. After that, she will then be on probation for 10 years. And that's all for this episode.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this case. Join our conversation on Instagram at Court Junkie, or you can always email me at podcast at courtjunkie.com. This episode was researched and written by Gabrielle Rusin. Thanks again for listening. Until next time.