‘The Black Swan’ Ashley Benefield To Learn Fate With New Sentencing Date

Ashley Benefield will learn her fate when she is sentenced for killing her husband on December 3.
Ashley Benefield, a 33-year-old former ballerina, was charged with second-degree murder in the 2020 fatal shooting of her husband, 58-year-old Douglas Benefield. She was convicted on the lesser offense of manslaughter.
Benefield’s sentencing was initially set for October 22. Judge Matt Whyte canceled the proceeding during a motions hearing the previous day.
Benefield’s legal team filed a motion for a retrial alleging juror misconduct. Jurors were brought back in and interviewed after the motion was filed.
The hearing focused on Juror 15, who the defense alleged lied on a questionnaire given to potential jurors during jury selection. The juror said to have no experience with domestic violence courts or custody arguments.
The defense claimed the juror was served an injunction during a custody battle and was also named as a victim in several domestic violence cases.
Whyte said he needed more time to consider the matter before ruling on the motion.
“We’re not going to be able to do the sentencing hearing tomorrow,” Whyte said at the hearing.
Opening statements in Benefield’s murder trial began on July 23. The trial has commonly been called the “Black Swan Murder Trial” in reference to the 2010 psychological thriller film Black Swan.
Benefield met her husband in 2016 at political event at Ben Carson’s home. The couple got married 13 days later.
The whirlwind romance took a dark turn, with Ashley leaving behind a note alleging abuse as she moved out of Doug’s home in 2017.
“Over the past year, we have had good times, yes, but you’ve also displayed scary and irrational behavior with sudden bursts of rage and fits of anger, extremely uncontrollable anger,” Benefield writes in the letter. “This has left me constantly stressed to the point of nausea and scared for my safety.”
She claimed that Doug had put her life in danger several times.
“When driving with me in the car, you’ve driven erratically, way fast, broken traffic laws, crossed in front of oncoming traffic, driven over a curb, through grass, almost hit several trees and acted like you were going to crash the car,” Ashley said.
The note concluded with a final warning.
“I’ve come to get what belongs to me. Do not harass or try to follow me, or I will call the police and have a restraining order against you,” Benefield said.
The four-page message was read on “Black Swan Murder,” a podcast by Law & Crime.
Benefield is facing 11 to 30 years in prison.
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