What led former ballerina Ashley Benefield to fatally shoot her husband?

After nearly four years, the trial of Ashley Benefield, the former ballerina charged with second-degree murder for shooting her estranged husband Doug, began in the summer of 2024. In the lead-up to the trial, a small group appeared near the courthouse to support Ashley’s claims of self-defense.

Among the supporters was Ashley’s mother Alicia and Ashley and Doug’s 6-year-old daughter Emerson, who stopped to speak to a reporter.

Emerson: It feels like I’m standing up for the right thing and that I’m doing the right thing for her.

Emerson’s public show of support caught the attention of her half-sister, Doug’s daughter Eva Benefield. Eva, known as “evathefreakindiva” on TikTok, let her half million followers know just how she felt.

EVA BENEFIELD (On TikTok): So, I think that we should probably stop shoving cameras in 6-year-old’s faces when they have no idea what’s going on …

A JURY CONSIDERS: DID ASHLEY BENEFIELD KILL IN SELF-DEFENSE OR WAS IT MURDER?

Lead prosecutor Suzanne O’Donnell said she believes Ashley killed Doug to guarantee she’d always be No. 1 in Emerson’s life.

Suzanne O’Donnell: I think Ashley wanted sole custody of her child and was very afraid that she was going to lose custody altogether.

In her opening statement to jurors, O’Donnell outlined the state’s theory of the case.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL (in court): 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.

Defense lawyer Neil Taylor made his argument that Ashley shot Doug in self-defense after he physically assaulted her.

NEIL TAYLOR (in court): Douglas Benefield was a violent abuser. Ashley Benefield’s efforts to placate him was absolutely consistent with what abused women do.

For the first time ever, Ashley would tell a jury what she says happened that night.

The trial took place in Bradenton, Florida, near where Ashley was living with her mother when she killed Doug. It was the culmination of a long and complicated relationship.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL (in court): … and it goes all the way back to when they met, back in 2016.

In 2016, Doug was living in Charleston, South Carolina, and was a consultant for technology companies. At 54 years old, Doug was 30 years older than Ashley but, as she told the jury, she was still smitten with him.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): He was funny. Very smart. Charming. We just instantly clicked.

The couple met at a political dinner. At the time, Ashley was working in the Sarasota campaign office of Donald Trump and sometimes helped stir up the crowds at his rallies.

Ashley also had done some swimsuit modeling and for a time had danced with the Maryland Youth Ballet. Just 13 days after meeting, they married.

Stephanie Murphy is Doug’s civil attorney.

Stephanie Murphy: A lot of people ask … why on earth did they get married so fast? I mean, come on … when Doug first met her, she was every single bit as beautiful as those modeling photos will show … She was a knockout!

NEIL TAYLOR (in court): Describe the man you thought you’d married.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: He was very loving and attentive …We laughed a lot and (crying) he made me feel very special and loved.

Doug invited almost no one to the wedding, not even his teenage daughter Eva.

Jim Axelrod | “48 Hours” contributor: He loves this girl, his 15-year-old daughter … he goes and gets married and doesn’t even tell her.

Tommie Benefield: Yeah.

Tommie Benefield is Doug’s cousin.

Tommie Benefield: …it’s bewildering … I would’ve talked him out of it. Eva certainly would’ve talked him out of it. 

Eva was still dealing with an unspeakable trauma. Nine months earlier, her mother, Doug’s then-wife, had died. It was Eva who discovered the body of 56-year-old Renee Benefield in their home, dead from an undiagnosed heart ailment.

Eva Benefield: … after my mom died, he really took, kind of, a motherly role along with a fatherly role.

Jim Axelrod: Wow.

And he made his daughter a promise.

Eva Benefield: And I said, “are you gonna remarry, are you gonna start dating? … Are you gonna have other kids?” Like, “what’s gonna happen?” and he said, “No, Eva. I’m here for you. I don’t plan on doing any of that.”

But just nine months later, Doug told his daughter he had married his new girlfriend.

Jim Axelrod: That’s a lot.

Eva Benefield: It is a lot.

Doug encouraged Ashley to try and mother a reluctant Eva who was only 9 years younger.

Eva Benefield: … he basically told her that I needed somebody … I needed a motherly role in my life. And I didn’t think that I needed that.

Ashley would later tell jurors there was tension in the house and just months into their marriage the couple had a major argument about Eva.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): He pulled the gun out and hold it to his head. He said that he is gonna blow his f—— brains out and I was gonna have to watch him. And then he pulled the trigger and he shot a hole in the ceiling in the kitchen.

Doug’s friend Trip Cormeny remembers Doug being embarrassed when he told Cormeny that he fired a gun in the house.

Trip Cormeny: In his words he said, “I did the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” 

But Ashley didn’t leave Doug after that incident. Instead, two days later, Doug and Ashley went ahead with a formal wedding reception. The newlyweds were also planning for the future. Ashley had a grand plan to create a national ballet company.

Trip Cormeny: I don’t know that Doug could spell ballet before he met Ashley. 

And they wanted to start a family.

Trip Cormeny: You know, when you love somebody, what do you wanna do? You wanna make her happy. 

ASHLEY BENEFIELD’S LETTER TO HER HUSBAND AND AN ALLEGATION OF POISON

Even though there was a growing tension at home between Ashley and Eva —

Eva Benefield : He promised me that things — things were going to be OK eventually. 

— Doug went ahead with helping Ashley follow her dream — establishing a ballet company in Charleston with a unique mission. Athena Nikolakopulos interviewed with Ashley and loved what she heard about her vision for the new company, the American National Ballet.

Athena Nikolkopulos: She didn’t want a cookie cutter company … She wanted girls that were tall, girls that were short.

As they worked to get the company off the ground, Ashley focused on her other dream of becoming a mother. There was one problem. Doug had a vasectomy, but he agreed to have it reversed. Then before long, Ashley was pregnant. 
 
Jim Axelrod: How did that sit with you?

Eva Benefield: It didn’t sit well at all. … He said he wasn’t planning on doing any of that  … so this kinda felt like another stab in the back. 
 
In the summer in 2017, some 40 dancers from all over the world began arriving in Charleston to work with Ashley. But Ashley was nowhere to be found.

Athena Nikolkopulos: We get there and we’re like, “Where is she?” And Doug announces that she’s bedridden with a really difficult pregnancy.

At the end of August, Ashley went back to Florida to live with her mother, while Doug tried to make the ballet work in Charleston.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): We decided together. He said that he couldn’t take care of me. He was too busy and that my mom could take care of me better, so I was happy to go.

But one September evening when Doug was out, Ashley and her mother came back to the house in Charleston. Ashley would tell the jury about that night. 

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): I had decided I was going to leave him and so I went back to get my things. … I left him a letter saying why I was leaving.

In the letter, Ashley called Doug “possessive, controlling and manipulating.” She wrote about that incident where he’d “shot a hole in the ceiling in the kitchen” and wrote that his behavior “has left me fearful for my life and safety as well as that of my unborn child.” She told the jury why she was so afraid of him.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): He would throw things or break things or smash things. He would come at me like he was gonna hit me. He told me I was lucky that he punched walls instead of me.

Nearly a year after Doug’s death, “48 Hours” spoke to his family lawyer Stephanie Murphy about the letter Ashley left Doug.

Stephanie Murphy: I really think that Ashley thought that that was gonna be it. Just pack up her stuff, leave a note, and it was gonna be over.

But the letter didn’t deter Doug. He sent text after text, begging Ashley to reconsider. Instead, she reported Doug to the authorities.

Eva Benefield: She got Child Protective Services involved from Florida.

Ashley told police that Doug had anger issues and was violent. Investigators interviewed Eva.

Eva Benefield: I was constantly having people come up to my door and questioning if my dad was a good dad. And it just made me so angry because he was.

After an investigation, Doug was cleared. But Ashley also began asking questions about the death of Doug’s previous wife — Eva’s mother Renee.

Ashley texted Doug: “Wait what did she die of again?”

Doug replied that Renee had a 75% artery blockage.

Ashley texted back: “I thought I have heard you say something about medications or something…? Like bad drugs…?”

Doug’s cousin Tommie says Ashley told him she thought Doug had poisoned Renee.

Jim Axelrod: What was your reaction? You must’ve been, like, “What?”

Tommie Benefield: It — it’s out of left field. … I’ve read the autopsy report. It’s clear. Died of a heart attack, essentially.

But Ashley, who said she was more nauseous than she would have expected as a pregnant woman, was suspicious.

Stephanie Murphy: Ashley believed that Doug has been poisoning her while she was pregnant with their daughter. They were both big tea fans … and she hearkened back to the times that Doug was bringing her tea in bed.

After she left him, Doug sent her a package of tea for her birthday.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court) When I opened it, there was an overwhelming smell, like a real strong chemical smell and I got like an instant headache.

NEIL TAYLOR: Did you report it to the police?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: Yes.

According to a detective, it was determined that “the substance that was mailed to the victim was just tea.”

NEIL TAYLOR (in court): What was the result?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: No charges.

By the start of 2018, Doug closed the ballet and was out of communication with Ashley. But he wanted to be part of his new baby’s life and asked Stephanie Murphy to send Ashley a letter allowing him to be there for the birth. Instead, the next day, Ashley checked into the hospital without telling Doug. It was three weeks before her due date.

Stephanie Murphy: She was at Tampa General Hospital … claiming … the child had been exposed to heavy metals in utero because her husband had poisoned her.

Ashley told hospital staffers that when Doug learned she was pregnant, he hit her and locked her in a room back in Charleston. She also said he had stalked her in Florida. No charges were filed, but the hospital took precautions and registered her under her middle name: Christina. Three days later, doctors performed a C-section and Ashley gave birth to a baby girl. Doug was not notified.

Stephanie Murphy: I think that Ashley’s proposal from the very beginning was, “You’ll have nothing to do with this child.”

BENEFIELD VS. BENEFIELD

The news that Ashley had given birth to a baby girl in March 2018 took more than a month to reach Doug. Ashley said she still believed he had poisoned her and the baby, so she signed them up for 26 consecutive days of treatment in a hyperbaric chamber.

Robert Cederoth: It can detox the body of heavy metals and other toxins.

Safety Director Robert Cederoth says Ashley and her 3-month-old daughter Emerson spent 40 hours in total in the chamber. She was the youngest patient ever treated here.

Robert Cederoth: Ashley’s daughter was really small … And so, we ended up taking this — ring and we put it around her waist. It was like — she was like a little ballerina … and so half of her body was actually inside of the hood.

In the summer of 2018, the poisoning allegations came to a head when the Benefield’s squared off in a Bradenton, Florida, courtroom. Doug wanted to see his daughter and Ashley was requesting an injunction to keep him far away.

An audio recording was made of the proceeding. Ashley accused Doug of poisoning her and told the judge about that incident when Doug fired a gun into the ceiling.

Doug admitted to firing the gun and explained to Ashley’s attorney that during an argument, he wanted Ashley to stop speaking. 

ATTORNEY: So, at this point, you decided that the next way you’re going to do to keep her from talking about anything is to shoot the gun?

DOUG BENEFIELD: Yeah — there’s not a lot of great ways to — to figure out what I was thinking. It was definitely to put a stop to the conversation.

But Doug denied poisoning Ashley. In September 2018, the judge ruled in Doug’s favor, granting joint custody. She said she didn’t believe anything Ashley had to say.

JUDGE DIANA MORELAND [Court audio]: There is absolutely not a single scintilla of credibility that I’m attaching to anything that was testified to – at least in this hearing of Ms. Benefield.

Days later, Doug and Ashley met at the sheriff’s office so he could see his 6-month-old daughter for the first time. Murphy says Ashley suggested that the three of them — Doug, Ashley and Emerson — spend time together.

Stephanie Murphy:  And Doug said, “OK, sure” because Doug wanted to make the transition as easy for his daughter as possible because, to her, he was a stranger.

Over the next year, the three of them were together frequently.

Stephanie Murphy: Doug thought they were back together, that they were doing what they were supposed to do in the beginning, which was to slowly get to know each other — be a family … I thought everything was gonna be OK.

But things were not OK and Doug was in for a big surprise, Murphy says. In August 2019, Doug found out Ashley was dating another man. Doug filed for divorce and Ashley lodged a new round of accusations about him.

Stephanie Murphy: Ashley accused Doug of sexually abusing his daughter … she accused him of a whole litany of things.

Doug vehemently denied the allegations and the sheriff’s office seemed to agree. They investigated and closed all of the cases regarding allegations of abuse without filing charges.

Jim Axelrod: I wanna be clear about something … Was Doug ever charged with any crime?

Tommie Benefield: No, sir.

In the summer of 2020, Ashley made plans to move to Maryland with her mother and daughter. Despite the difficulties in their relationship, Doug chose to join them.

Doug told friends he still wanted to be a part of his daughter’s life and continued to hope he could reconcile with Ashley and have a fresh start in Maryland.

Trip Cormeny: There’s nothing I can say that could possibly turn him around on this. He’s gonna do this if it kills him.

It was September 27, 2020, the day the turbulent relationship between the Benefields finally boiled over. Doug arrived at Ashley and her mother Alicia’s home to help pack for the move.

Stephanie Murphy: Alicia decides to take the baby for a walk down to the neighborhood park.

Ashley stayed behind with Doug. It was shortly thereafter, when Ashley ran to her next-door neighbor, sobbing, and carrying her .45 caliber gun. And he called 911.

JOHN SANT to 911: [It was] right next door to me. She just came over. Her estranged husband attacked her and she says she shot him.

Doug had been shot in the leg and chest. He lived for an hour but died at nearby hospital. Ashley’s attorney met her at the sheriff’s office. Detectives began investigating Ashley’s claim of self-defense, but they’d have to do it without her

Stephanie Murphy: She didn’t speak to detectives at all.

But after a month of investigation, in November 2020, Ashley Benefield was charged with second-degree murder. She pleaded not guilty. After 17 days in jail, Ashley posted $100,000 bond.

It was nearly three years later, in July 2023, that there was a key hearing in the case that brought everyone together, including Doug’s daughter, Eva.

EVA BENEFIELD (On TikTok | June 28, 2023): Next week is her first in-person hearing …which means I’m gonna see her in person for the first time since … she killed my Dad.

Ashley’s team had asked for the case to be dismissed, claiming she had shot Doug in self-defense. And prosecutors were fighting it.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL (in court 2023): Did you do the autopsy of Doug Benefield

DR. RUSSELL VEGA | Medical Examiner: Yes, I did.

Eva wasn’t fully prepared to hear the details of her father’s death.

DR. RUSSELL VEGA: The projectile path went through the chest wall on the right side and then it hit the right lung

Eva Benefield (Sobs) … it’s talking about my dad in a way that doesn’t feel very humane. They referred to the — the murder, the shooting as the incident and—. (Sobs) they — they pulled up pictures of his body and, you know, they referred to my dad as the victim.

EVA BENEFIELD: (Sobs) It’s been difficult for me to kind of grasp what’s going on and then hearing about it over again and over again and over again. It’s just — it’s a lot. 

The judge denied Ashley’s motion to dismiss the case. Ashley would have to stand trial for killing Doug. And that’s when Ashley would tell the jury her version of what happened that night.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court 2024)  I said, “I’m done and you need to leave now.” (crying) … He said, “you can’t f—— leave me.”

ASHLEY BENEFIELD EXPLAINS WHY SHE SHOT DOUG

One of the first witnesses at Ashley’s murder trial was Doug’s 23-year-old daughter.

Eva Benefield had lived with Doug and Ashley when they were newlyweds and saw firsthand how they interacted.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL  (in court): Did you ever hear your dad at any time yell at her?

EVA BENEFIELD: No.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL : Did you ever see or hear your dad threaten her?

SUZANNE O’DONNELL : Did you ever see or hear your dad get physical with her?

EVA BENEFIELD: No

Prosecutors next called John Sant to the stand. He is the neighbor Ashley ran to after shooting Doug. His 911 call was played for the jury.

JOHN SANT TO 911: Calm down honey, calm down. (Ashley can be heard crying in the background) …She’s with me now, quite upset, the weapon is here. … She says he attacked her, and she shot him.

Prosecutors asked Sant if he had noticed any bruises on Ashley that night.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL  (in court): At any time during this interaction with Ashley, did she appear to have any injuries?

JOHN SANT:  No.

The next morning, prosecutors called Ashley’s mother Alicia Byers to the stand. She swore that Ashley had never discussed with her details of the shooting.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL  (in court): To this day you’ve never talked about it?

ALICIA BYERS: No.

Prosecutor Rebecca Freel found that curious.

Rebecca Freel: She never said mama, he beat me … or he was coming at me or any of those things … we thought that was important to show that the person who’s probably the closest to her in the world was unaware of those things.

To show how Ashley behaved when she did not get her way, prosecutors called Det. Chris Gillum of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office to the stand.

Gillum testified that Ashley once demanded that he arrest Doug in court before a sitting judge, for contacting her when he was not supposed to. Gillum refused. 

DET. CHRIS GILLUM (in court): … her tone turned from the crying to very aggressive and she said, “you will effing arrest him in front of the judge. And I will make sure you do it.”

SUZANNE O’DONNELL: And what did you say to that? 

DET. CHRIS GILLUM: I said, “it’s not going to happen” … She started crying again and came out with a comment like um, “I can’t believe you’re willing to allow Doug to kill me and the baby.”

The prosecution presented a video found on Doug’s phone to show that Ashley was never afraid of Doug. It was taken just one week before the shooting. Doug is recording himself playing a game with Ashley, her mother and Emerson and they are all laughing.

But maybe the prosecution’s most important witness was medical examiner Dr. Russell Vega.

DR. RUSSELL VEGA [looking at projection in court]: That’s the chest injury to the right side of the right nipple.

He testified about the two bullets that hit Doug in the leg and chest.

REBECCA FREEL (in court): Would you be so kind as to stand up and kinda point on your body to where the entrance wound would be?

DR. RUSSELL VEGA (stands and points to his chest): Certainly (stands and point to his chest).

Because prosecutors say Doug was shot in the side, they theorize that he was likely turning to run away when he saw Ashley point the gun.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL  (in court): Your honor at this time, the state rests.

It was defense lawyer Neil Taylor’s turn. He called Ashley to the stand and asked about the times she was afraid of Doug.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): … sometimes he would drive really scary, yelling and screaming at me and like running up on curbs. One time he almost hit a tree.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): He would get in my face. He’d yell at me. He’d come at me like he was gonna hit me.

And Ashley said Doug once punched the family dog Sully.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): … he punched him in the face so hard that he knocked him out. I thought he had killed him.

At an earlier hearing, Doug was asked about Sully.

ATTORNEY:  You also punched the dog, the day you discharged the firearm?

DOUG BENEFIELD: He jumped up … he’s a big dog, and he jumped up in my lap, and yeah, I admit I hit him, I didn’t hit him like you would hit a punching bag or anything, but I hit him.

Taylor asked Ashley to tell jurors her version of the night she shot and killed Doug. Ashley testified that, as the couple packed for their move to Maryland, Doug became agitated because Ashley had insisted Doug get his own apartment.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): I tried to change the subject. I could see how upset he was getting …

Ashley told jurors that Doug bumped into her and pushed a box into her side. She said he hit her in the face when she tried to leave. Then, she said she ran into a bedroom where Doug followed her and that is when she grabbed her nearby .45 caliber gun — one of three that were in house.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): I — I just held the gun like in front of me and I — I said, stop, and he like turned and he got into this like almost like a fighting stance. (crying) He started like moving his arms and his hands around …

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (in court): He started coming towards me and then he lunged at me. (crying) And I just start pulling the trigger.

NEIL TAYLOR: Tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury, why you shot Doug?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: I was scared to death. (crying) I thought he was gonna kill me.

NEIL TAYLOR: As you sit here today, Ashley, how do you feel about what happened?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: Horrible. He’s the father of my child. (crying) And someday I’m going to have to explain it all to her. (crying)

After a break, Ashley returned to the stand. Taylor then produced an old text from Doug’s previous wife Renee. It was undated, but Ashley said she found it on an old cellphone. He read aloud what Renee wrote to Doug.

NEIL TAYLOR (in court): reads: “I was deeply disappointed that you distorted the truth about who you really were when I married you. I loved you through finding out you weren’t really what you pretended to be — you kicking me so hard on New Year’s Eve on our honeymoon, because you were having trouble functioning in certain areas — you holding a gun to your head twice in my home …

Matt Tympanick: … when you hear that text message … it … helps Ashley Benefield’s case.

Criminal defense lawyer Matt Tympanick, who attended and followed this trial, says he feels that text supports Ashley’s contention that Doug was abusive.

Matt Tympanick: This isn’t the first woman he has potentially abused.

Doug’s divorce attorney Stephanie Murphy says she once asked Doug about that text, and he confirmed Renee had sent it to him.

Stephanie Murphy: Doug said that, yes, they had some struggles and, yes, there was an incident during their … honeymoon, but it was not at all as Renee was describing it.

Ashley’s lawyer ended her direct testimony. Ashley now would have to go head-to-head with lead prosecutor Suzanne O’Donnell who had a surprise in store.

THE DEFENSE PUTS DOUG BENEFIELD ON TRIAL

Ashley Benefield walked back into courtroom 6A after a lunch break. She’d spent two hours that morning testifying about the alleged abuse at the hands of her husband Doug.

But now, as she took the stand again.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL (in court): I would like to just start with a couple of issues.

It was prosecutor Suzanne O’Donnell’s turn. And Ashley admitted Doug never physically abused her before he allegedly hit her the night of the shooting

SUZANNE O’DONNELL (in court): I would like to just start with a couple of issues.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL: Doug Benefield never punched you ever, correct?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: Um, yeah, I would say that’s correct.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL: Doug Benefield never choked you ever?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: Uh, no.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL: He never kicked you?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: No.

The prosecutor called Ashley down from the witness stand to demonstrate what happened that night.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (demonstrating Doug’s movements): I held the gun out in front of me and I said stop. (Crying) He got into this, like, fighting pose. He like turned sideways. And he was like moving around with his like arms and his hands. And he started like inching forward towards me.

Suzanne O’Donnell: I think it’s invaluable in a case like this … that the jury see what her version of events is.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL (in court): So, he’s standing there. He turns to— like this and starts moving his arms around?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: Not like that.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL: Well, show me. What was he doing?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (demonstrating Doug’s movements): And, like, I know he got like this, I mean, was like making, like, fighting motions. I don’t— I don’t know, I’m not a fighter, I don’t know.

Suzanne O’Donnell: I don’t know that it came off as genuine as she expected it to. … We have to look at what she said versus the physical evidence and see if it matches.

ASHLEY BENEFIELD: And he lunged at me he came very quickly.

SUZANNE O’Donnell: OK, so he lunged, was his fist up when he lunged?

ASHLEY BENEFIELD (crying)  I don’t remember.

The state insists Ashley’s story didn’t match with the medical examiner’s testimony that Doug was shot in the side. Doug’s cousin Tommie agrees.

Tommie Benefield: If Doug was really lunging at her the way she said, he would’ve been presenting the front of his body. That’s not how he was shot.

Stephanie Murphy: She’s the kind of person who eventually believes her own lies … but … just because someone believes what they’re saying doesn’t make it true.

But the defense continued to portray the idea that Doug was abusive.

Tommie Benefield They made this all about Doug. They cast Doug in the worst possible light.

They called Dr. Jason Quintal, a trauma counselor who worked with the couple in the months before the shooting.

DR. JASON QUINTAL (in court): Doug occurred as someone who was, um, domineering and … at times would be super controlling.

NEIL TAYLOR: Did you conclude whether there was an intimidation issue present?

DR. JASON QUINTAL: Ashley stated that she was scared of Doug.

Domestic violence expert Bruce Ferris met with Ashley after the shooting and said her behavior was consistent with having suffered abuse. He addressed that video of Ashley, her mother and Doug laughing just a week before she killed him.

Ferris said victims of domestic violence often appease their abusers to keep the peace.

BRUCE FERRIS (in court): We’ve all heard the term walking on eggshells, they’re trying to avoid aggression by their partner because they’ve grown to believe there’s a threat here.

Taylor says Ashley was only pretending to get along with Doug so he wouldn’t harm her or Emerson.

Jim Axelrod: Are you saying to me that Ashley … was like, I’ll just sort of keep him happy … so that he doesn’t get violent with me.”

Neil Taylor: That’s exactly what I’m saying to you. 

SUZANNE O’DONNELL (in court): Domestic violence is absolutely a real problem. People that feel like they cannot get out. They have no way to get out. That is not this defendant.

But in closing arguments, Prosecutor O’Donnell told the jury Ashley was not afraid of Doug — not the day of the video, and not the day she killed him.

SUZANNE O’DONNELL (in court): She did not have to shoot him. She had an agenda and it worked for what she wanted, and she got what she wanted. … Sole custody of the child. And that’s murder. Thank you.

But in his closing, Ashley’s attorney reminded the jury Ashley spent years trying to get authorities to protect her and Emerson from Doug.

NEIL TAYLOR (in court): She filed complaint after complaint after complaint calling Doug Benefield’s behavior to the attention of the authorities, with no result.

He insisted Ashley only shot Doug because her life was in danger that night.

NEIL TAYLOR (in court): I’ve presented to you everything that I possibly could to show you … what Ashley knew about Doug at the time they took place to show you that her action in using deadly force was reasonable. … We’re confident you’ll return a verdict of not guilty in this case.

The jury began deliberating in the afternoon and continued late into the night. After nearly seven hours, lawyers, friends and family returned to the courtroom to hear the jury’s decision.

COURT CLERK: The defendant is guilty of manslaughter, a lesser-included offense.

Guilty of manslaughter, but not second-degree murder.

Matt Tympanick: Murder two requires some kind of intent … Manslaughter doesn’t require that, it’s more of heat of passion … The jury’s essentially saying, we don’t think she pre-planned this, but we also don’t think she was justified in doing it.

Any conviction that will put Ashley in prison comes as a welcome relief to Doug’s family and friends.

Tommie Benefield: The highlight of the trial for me personally was hearing the verdict read out loud … The second-best thing was hearing the click of the handcuffs.

Eva updated her followers about the verdict.

EVA BENEFIELD (on TikTok): “My dad got the justice that he deserves.”

She’s hoping one day to play a role in the life of Emerson, who is still being raised by Ashley’s mother Alicia.

Eva Benefield (after the verdict): I hope that one day she’ll grow into a strong, young woman and I’ll be able to get to know her and explain to her who her father was and — and show her all the pictures and videos and just really tell her how — how life should have been.

Ashley faces up to 30 years in prison. State Attorney Ed Brodsky, who runs the prosecutor’s office, says they will ask the judge to sentence her to the maximum.

Ed Brodsky This was an example of someone that … wanted to take the law into her own hands. … And that was the bridge that she crossed too far.

Stephanie Murphy: As the years have gone by and the colors fade, you see that she’s actually the Black Swan and always has been.

Ashley’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 22.

Her attorney has requested a new trial claiming prosecutorial and juror misconduct. The prosecution denies that any misconduct took place.

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Produced by Paul LaRosa and Dena Goldstein. Richard Barber is the producer-editor.Tamara Weitzman is the development producer. gary Winter, Grayce Arlotta-Berner and Marcus Balsam are the editors. Jordan Kinsey is the field producer. Elizabeth Caholo is the associate producer. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.  

Jim Axelrod

Jim Axelrod is the chief correspondent and executive editor for CBS News’ “Eye on America” franchise, part of the “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.” He also reports for “CBS Mornings,” “CBS News Sunday Morning,” and CBS News 24/7.