Jury ponders in “Dark Swan murder” preliminary of Ashley Benefield, previous ballet performer accused of shooting spouse
By Kerry Breen
Jury thoughts have started on account of previous ballet dancer Ashley Benefield, who is accused of homicide in the passing of her significant other Doug Benefield.
Ashley Benefield was accused of second-degree murder for supposedly shooting and killing her significant other during a contention in 2020. The legal dispute, known as the “Dark Swan murder” preliminary, accumulated public consideration, with some contrasting Benefield with the hero of the 2010 film “Dark Swan.”
Whenever sentenced, Ashley Benefield, who argued not liable, has to carry out upwards of 25 years in jail.
The pair marry in the wake of knowing one another for under two weeks, as per “48 Hours” detailing. At the hour of their marriage, Ashley Benefield was 24 and Doug Benefield, a single man whose spouse had kicked the bucket around nine months sooner, was 54.
Their relationship was rough, “48 Hours” detailed: There were strains between Ashley Benefield and Doug Benefield’s young little girl, and an endeavor to begin an artful dance organization together fizzled. Ashley Benefield blamed her better half for harming his most memorable spouse, and left him when she was pregnant with their kid to remain with her mom, claiming that he was presently harming her. The cases were researched by police, and no charges were recorded.
When the kid was brought into the world in 2018, Ashley Benefield saved the child from her better half for a long time, until an appointed authority mediated. After this, the pair to a great extent accommodated, and in 2020, they wanted to move to Maryland together on Ashley Benefield’s idea.
On Sept. 27, 2020, the Benefields were pressing a U-Take truck for the move. Ashley Benefield’s mom, Alicia Byers, took her granddaughter to a recreation area, abandoning the couple in the house. A neighbor detailed hearing unexpected shouting and called 911.
Minutes after the fact, Ashley Benefield showed up at the home of another neighbor, weapon close by. She allegedly let the neighbor know that she had shot her significant other with good reason. The neighbor called 911.
At the point when police and crisis administrations answered, Doug Benefield was as yet alive yet incapable to talk. He passed on at an area medical clinic about an hour after the fact.
Specialists verified that Doug Benefield had been shot two times, once in the leg and once in the arm. That subsequent projectile went into his chest depression. The shots had been discharged when he was getting some distance from his significant, not entirely settled.
Byers let police know that her little girl had been living in anxiety toward her better half for more than three years, CBS News revealed. Ashley Benefield’s cases against her significant other were examined by police, yet he was never accused of a wrongdoing, since he knew “how to play the game,” as indicated by Byers. Ashley Benefield’s legal counselor, Confidence Brown, told police at the time that her client had been wanting to leave her significant other and had a departure plan, including a protected spot to remain, a burner telephone and a rental vehicle leased under an alternate name. Brown let police know that Ashley Benefield dreaded her significant other “had heard about” the arrangement.
Ashley Benefield was captured five weeks after the shooting. She argued not liable and spent around fourteen days in prison prior to being delivered on bond.
Court reports and declarations showed that the couple had contended before the shooting. The two had been quarreling over the care of their youngster, as well as about their conjugal status and issues of homegrown maltreatment, as indicated by CBS News member WTSP.
In profound declaration last week, Ashley Benfield related the contention. She said that her better half swore at her and called out to her, then hit her with a moving box and “body-checked” her as she advised him to leave.
“I was frightened to death. I figured he would kill me,” Benefield affirmed, as per WTSP. “I had no place to go. I was caught in my own home. He wouldn’t allow me to leave.”
Benefield affirmed that she snatched her firearm, which was on a capacity canister that still couldn’t seem to be stuffed. She said she held the firearm before herself and advised her significant other to stop. In any case, he kept on moving towards her and “rushed at” her, Benefield said.
