Ashley Benefield Found Guilty of Manslaughter in "Black Swan Murder Trial"

Ashley Benefield, the 32-year-old former ballerina accused of murdering her husband, was found guilty of manslaughter. The verdict was announced in a Manatee County, Florida courtroom. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

Benefield was originally charged with second-degree murder but was convicted of the lesser crime. The judge remanded her to the custody of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office and revoked her $100,000 bond, per NBC News.

The case was dubbed the "Black Swan Murder Trial" based on the 2010 film Black Swan starring Natalie Portman as a ballerina in the midst of a psychological unraveling. Benefield was accused of fatally shooting her husband, 58-year-old Doug Benefield, in her mother’s Lakewood Ranch home in September 2020.

Prosecutors said that Ashley killed her estranged husband because she wanted sole custody of their young daughter and didn’t want him in their lives anymore.

“This case is about a woman who very early on in her pregnancy decided she wanted to be a single mother,” Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O’Donnell told the jury in her opening statement, according to The Post and Courier. “And she did not want the father of this child to have any visitation [and] … she would stop at nothing to obtain that goal.”

Her defense attorney argued that Ashley killed the former Navy veteran in self-defense. A jury has found Ashley Benefield guilty of manslaughter.

Ashley was on trial for the murder of her estranged husband Doug Benefield in 2020.

The prosecution argued that this was a planned murder so Ashley could have full custody of their daughter, while the defense claimed Ashley shot her husband in self-defense.

Ashley is facing 30 years in prison.

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