'Black Swan Murder:' Ex-Ballerina Ashley Benefield Sentenced For Fatally Shooting Husband

"I hope prison serves her well," said the daughter of Ashley's deceased husband, Doug Benefield, after her sentencing for the 2020 murder prosecutors said was a plot to gain sole custody of their child, while she claimed self-defense.

Ashley Benefield -- the ex-ballerina who was found guilty of manslaughter for killing her husband in a case dubbed the "Black Swan murder" -- has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

While in a Florida court on Tuesday, Ashley, 33, received her sentence in silence for fatally shooting her estranged husband, Doug Benefield, in September 2020, according to NBC News.

In July, Ashley was convicted of manslaughter, a lesser charge than the second-degree murder sought by the prosecution. Her sentence of 20 years is less than the 30 possible years she faced.

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On Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge Mathew Whyte said that he believed Ashley murdered her husband while under duress and showed remorse for killing him, but found that she did not deserve a lesser punishment, per NBC News. In addition to 20 years in prison, Ashley was also sentenced to 10 years of probation.

While Whyte handed out her sentence, Ashley appeared to be devoid of emotion, according to the outlet.

Following her sentencing hearing, Doug's family said they did not agree with Whyte's finding that Ashley was remorseful, but noted that they were satisfied with the sentence, per NBC News.

Doug's relatives, including his daughter Eva, spoke in court. While speaking outside the courthouse after the sentencing, Eva said, "I've waited so long to be able to speak to her face-to-face ... I hope prison serves her well."

During the trial, Ashley claimed that she killed Doug in self-defense. The prosecution, meanwhile, argued that Ashley murdered her husband so that she could be a single mother to her and Doug's child.

Self-Defense Argument

Self-defense is what Ashley's legal team argued in court, but it was clear the jury didn't completely buy that, based on their guilty verdict for manslaughter.

Ashley even took the stand in her own defense at trial, testifying that while she had killed her husband, it was done in self-defense after he became physically abusive.

One witness, Bruce Ferris, a mental health professional specializing in domestic and family traumas, testified that Ashley's displayed behaviors fit the pattern of someone who's a victim of domestic abuse. He called them "techniques of compliance, not wanting to poke the bear."

Dr. Jason Quintal, who'd worked with the couple in the past, described Doug as "somebody who was domineering" and "super-controlling." A realtor, Vincent Vizzaccaro, testified that Doug had wanted to buy a house directly behind the one Ashley was living in during their separation.

Finally, a forensics expert, Michael Haag, took the stand and talked about bullet trajectories from the crime scene. He testified that Ashley had to have been moving during the shooting, which sits in stark contrast to the prosecution saying she shot her husband from behind.

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Prosecution's Argument

According to the prosecution, Ashley murdered her husband so she could be a single mother.

"This case is about a woman who very early on in her pregnancy decided she wanted to be a single mother," argued Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O'Donnell. "She would stop at nothing to obtain that goal."

They presented their own evidence about the shooting, as well. "Based on entry wounds on Douglas it does not appear that he was facing Ashley when she began shooting," the Manatee County Sheriff's Office said in an affidavit received by The New York Post.

"It also does not appear that Douglas had taken any kind of defensive or combative stance. He was not found to have any weapons on his person or near him," the affidavit continued.

Its conclusion: "Detectives found no evidence that she was acting in self-defense when she fired multiple shots at her husband."

The Couple's History

Ashley and Doug first met in 2016 at a GOP fundraiser in Palm Beach when she was 24 years old. A trained dancer, Ashley shared her aspirations to open her own ballet company. Two weeks after they met, the couple was married and he was funding her studio.

According to the prosecution, things took a turn when the money started to run out and Ashley's ballet company faltered. An ensuing divorce battle turned ugly with allegations of infidelity on both sides and abuse.

While they were only married for four years, Ashley filed allegations of abuse against Doug multiple times, including a story that he'd shot a gun at the ceiling to "shut her up," that he'd kicked their dog unconscious, and that he'd even tried to poison her while she was pregnant.

Throughout the trial, it was revealed that the couple was estranged when their daughter, now six, was born, with Doug only finding out Ashley had given birth when she filed a restraining order against him, per WTVT.

A judge previously found no evidence of abuse by Doug in relation to these allegations, the NY Post reported. The prosecution argued that all of this was part of a calculated strategy by the defendant to gain sole custody of their child. And when that didn't work, she took even more extreme measures.

They had enjoyed a period of reconciliation after Ashley's unsubstantiated allegations, per the outlet, until she shot and killed her husband in September 2020.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages; Calls are confidential and toll-free.

Missouri Department of Corrections via AP/Handout