A Florida jury deliberated for more than six hours on Tuesday in “The Black Swan Murder Trial” before finding ballerina Ashley Benefield guilty of manslaughter in the death of her husband.
Benefield was facing a second-degree murder charge, but the jury found her guilty of the lesser offense. She admitted to fatally shooting her husband, 58-year-old Navy veteran Douglas “Doug” Benefield, inside a Lakewood Ranch, Florida home in September of 2020. The trial started on July 24.
The trial’s nickname references the 2010 psychological thriller film Black Swan.
During opening statements, prosecutors alleged that Ashley Benefield wanted to keep her husband away from herself and their child.
“This is a case about a woman who, early on in her pregnancy, decided she wanted to be a single mother,” prosecutor Suzanne O’Donnell said. “She did not want the father of this child to have any visitation.”