Ashley Benefield, former ballerina accused of murdering her husband, takes the stand in her own defense

Emotions ran high on Friday as Ashley Benefield, the former ballerina accused of murdering her husband, took the stand in her defense.

Doug Benefield was shot and killed in September 2020 at Ashley’s mother’s Lakewood Ranch home, where Ashley was living at the time.

Ashley Benefield was visibly emotional as she recounted her relationship with Doug and the events of September 27, 2020. She described an argument that escalated, claiming she feared for her life and grabbed her gun to make him leave.

“I thought he was going to kill me,” Benefield said.

On that day, Ashley and Doug Benefield were packing up her mother’s home to move to Maryland. According to Ashley, a heated argument erupted during the packing process.

“He said, ‘Shut the f*** up,’ started calling me names, and said, ‘I can see what you’re doing, you’re trying to get me to leave. I don’t have to leave,'” Benefield recalled.

Ashley described a chaotic scene, claiming Doug hit her for the first time and prevented her from leaving. Panic set in, and she grabbed her gun, hoping to force her estranged husband to leave.

“He started coming towards me, then he lunged at me, and I started pulling the trigger. He just kept coming,” she said.

Doug died from his injuries.

Ashley claimed this incident was the climax of a long history of emotional abuse. She alleged that Doug would yell at her, call her names, throw things, be aggressive towards their pets, and even fire a gun in their previous home. She obtained a protective order against him in South Carolina but claimed her request for one in Florida was denied.

When asked how she felt about killing Doug, Ashley responded, “Horrible, he’s the father of my child.”

Prosecutors cross-examined Ashley, challenging her claims of living in fear of Doug. They questioned her about her attempts to terminate Doug’s parental rights and argued that she never intended to reconcile with him, despite their plans to move to Maryland together.

“You knew that Doug was going to know that you had no intention of reconciling with him,” the prosecution stated.

“We had had the conversation many times,” Ashley replied.

A powerful moment came when prosecutors asked Ashley to reenact the moments when she shot Doug. “Did he have his hands in fists?” they asked.

“Not at that point, they were like, I don’t know,” Ashley said.

“Was he coming at you like this?” the prosecution demonstrated.

“He lunged at me; he came very quickly,” Ashley responded.

“Okay, so he lunged, but were his fists up?” they asked.

“I don’t remember,” answered Ashley.

The defense continued their case Friday afternoon, including testimony from a domestic violence expert. The case could go to the jury next week.