During her homicide trial this 12 months, Ashley Benefield supplied hours of emotional testimony concerning the abuse she stated she suffered by the hands of her estranged husband — and about what occurred within the terrifying moments earlier than she fatally shot Doug Benefield in an act she described as self-defense.
But not everybody was satisfied by the previous ballerina’s obvious tears.
The assistant state lawyer for Florida’s twelfth Judicial District, Suzanne O’Donnell, instructed “Dateline” that, believing Ashley Benefield was performing — and never really crying — she requested for the courtroom lights to be turned up. And she had Ashley step down from the witness stand to re-enact second by second her account of the deadly taking pictures of Doug, 58, at her residence south of Tampa on Sept. 27, 2020, O’Donnell stated.
What adopted was some of the wrenching exchanges of a six-day trial by which prosecutors accused Ashley of exaggerating and fabricating claims of abuse in an effort to win a protracted custody battle “in any respect prices.”
“Once I noticed she was probably not crying, I knew she needed to get down in entrance of that jury,” O’Donnell instructed “Dateline.” “When she steps down, she’s actually inside toes. And I needed them to have the ability to see that.”
Ashley’s lawyer, Neil Taylor, stated it was “callous” for prosecutors to make his consumer re-enact the taking pictures. She had constant breakdowns all through the proceedings, shedding genuine tears, Taylor stated.
“Whether or not the jury believed them to be actual tears, I can solely let you know they acquitted her of homicide,” he instructed “Dateline.”
While the jury discovered Ashley not responsible of probably the most critical cost prosecutors had sought, it convicted her of manslaughter. She faces a most of 30 years in jail when she is sentenced on Dec. 3.
After the decision, Taylor requested a brand new trial alleging juror misconduct. The choose has not but weighed in on the declare.
A nasty custody battle
At trial, prosecutors alleged that Ashley fatally shot Doug throughout a contentious custody battle that included some abuse allegations that O’Donnell known as “fictitious.” The prosecutor stated bodily proof from the taking pictures didn’t match Ashley’s declare that she fired in self-defense.
Taylor countered that his consumer did solely what any law-abiding citizen might be anticipated to do with an abusive accomplice: She reported the alleged abuse in an effort to focus authorities’ consideration on his habits.
In testimony, Ashley stated her estranged husband was controlling and risky. While they have been dwelling in South Carolina, she stated, he threw a loaded gun at her and, throughout an argument, fired it into the ceiling earlier than he threatened to take his personal life. Another time, she testified, he punched their canine so laborious he knocked it unconscious.
In South Carolina, the place the Benefields had lived collectively, they obtained court docket orders in 2017 that barred them from contacting one another. After Ashley moved to Florida whereas she was pregnant with their daughter, she believed he violated the order, she testified.
He seemed to be stalking her, she testified at trial, and despatched a package deal that she believed contained poison. In 2018, she sought one other court docket order that might have barred him from contacting her and given her custody of their daughter.
During a listening to in these proceedings, Doug admitted hooting the ceiling — he known as it a “horrible choice” — however denied that he threatened to die by suicide or threw a gun at her, a transcript of the listening to reveals. He acknowledged hitting their canine however stated he didn’t strike it like “a punching bag.”
Doug denied violating the restraining order or stalking her, based on the transcript, and the choose within the case stated there was not a “scintilla of credible proof” that Ashley had been poisoned.
The choose accused Ashley of “turning on” tears when she felt it was applicable and awarded Doug quick entry to their youngster, based on the transcript.
Drama within the courtroom
The second when O’Donnell requested for the lights to be turned up throughout Ashley’s legal trial got here on the fourth day, close to the top of her time on the witness stand.
O’Donnell had been questioning Ashley about her swift courtship with Doug — they married 13 days after they met, and she or he gave delivery lower than two years later — and her allegations of abuse.
After roughly an hour, the prosecutor started strolling Ashley by way of the day she fatally shot her estranged husband.
At the time, Ashley testified, she was getting ready to maneuver together with her mom to an inherited residence in Maryland. Doug deliberate on transferring there, too, and dwelling individually in an effort to reconcile along with his estranged spouse, O’Donnell stated.
Taylor stated Ashley by no means deliberate on reconciling — “Doug Benefield knew full properly this relationship was over,” he stated in court docket — and he described the transfer as one other undesirable pursuit of his consumer.
On Sept. 27, 2020, Doug had gone to Ashley’s residence to assist her pack. After an argument, Ashley testified, Doug struck her within the face and refused to depart when she requested him to.
Ashley testified that she ran to her bed room, grabbed a gun and closed the door. Doug slammed it open, she stated, and — utilizing an expletive — instructed her she was “carried out.”
“That made you worry on your life?” O’Donnell requested.
“Yeah,” Ashley testified, showing to cry.
O’Donnell requested for the lights to be turned up. Moments later, she instructed Ashley to step down from the witness stand and re-enact the confrontation.
Speaking from the properly of the courtroom, Ashley testified that she raised her weapon and instructed Doug to cease. He obtained right into a “preventing pose,” she stated, then started inching towards her.
O’Donnell pressed her to indicate what he was doing along with his arms as he superior.
After she struggled with the demonstration, Ashley stated: “I don’t know. I’m not a fighter.”
When Doug lunged at her, Ashley testified, she pulled the set off. He stored transferring towards her, she stated, and she or he stored taking pictures.
O’Donnell requested for extra particulars. But after a roughly two-minute re-enactment, she instructed Ashley — who seemed to be sobbing — to have a seat.
Moments later, the choose known as a recess.
To prosecutors, the change was a mix of theatrics and few particulars. To Rebecca Freel, one other assistant district lawyer prosecuting the case, Ashley’s eyes didn’t seem puffy and her face regarded the identical as earlier than she left the stand.
“We thought that was telling,” Freel instructed “Dateline.”
But Barbara Russell, a psychologist and therapist who handled Ashley and spoke to NBC News together with her permission, stated emotional expression can range broadly from individual to individual, and she or he criticized prosecutors for portraying themselves as specialists on the matter.
Russell stated she had by no means identified Ashley to be misleading, nor did she consider she would have shot her estranged husband except her life was in imminent hazard.
“The incontrovertible fact that she doesn’t cry sufficient tears to please the prosecutor adjustments none of that,” Russell stated. “They prosecuted a sufferer.”