BRADENTON, Fla. — The second day of trial in a Manatee County murder case that’s gained national attention as the "Black Swan murder" commenced Wednesday.
Former ballerina Ashley Benefield is accused of shooting and killing her husband back in 2020 after an argument.
Family members from both sides were in court again, including the victim’s brother and older daughter who testified Monday.
Among the testimonies that the six-person jury heard included Ashley Benefield’s mother and a family lawyer for Douglas Benefield.
A custody battle is at the center of this case. Douglas Benefield’s lawyer described the contentious situation surrounding the birth of the child and visitation leading up to the day of the murder on Sept. 27, 2020. That incident happened at Ashley Benefield’s mother’s home.
Byers was the first to take the stand and was asked various questions about her daughter and grandchild.
“Did she ever go to the firing range or anything,” asked Suzanne O’Donnell, the state prosecutor.
“Yes, we did all the courses to get the concealed carry,” said Alicia Byers.
Byers said her pregnant daughter, who accused her estranged husband of domestic violence, moved in with her after complaining of feeling sick a lot.
“He brought her down. He told me I needed to take care of her and he dropped her off,” Byers said.
The shooting took place at her Lakewood Ranch home moments after she’d left home with the couple’s child.
Byers said she had seen Douglas bringing a U-Haul to the house as they were packing up to move to a house in Maryland where she had grown up.
“I was leaving when he pulled up,” she said.
“Where did you go?” O’Donnell asked.
“We went to the park,” Byers responded.
“When you say ‘we’ who is we?” O’Donnell asked.
“Emerson,” Byers replied.
Ahead of Emerson’s birth, two years earlier in 2018, the whirlwind romance that saw the two marry only 13 days after meeting in 2016 had sorely fractured, according to a Sarasota Attorney who had started representing Douglas.
“At the time the child was born did you or Doug know that the child was born?” the state prosecutor asked.
“No. Gosh! We didn’t know for a good five or six weeks after she was born,” said Stephanie Murphy, the victim’s lawyer.
Court proceedings revealed that a South Carolina Court had issued a no-contact restraining order against Douglas in late 2017.
Murphy was hired by Douglas to open channels of communication after many disagreements and said on one occasion she had advised him against a first visitation in her absence.
“We had just been in a knockdown, dragged out litigation for months with just horrendous allegations that were unfounded, and yet when she said ‘I want to go with you’ he said ‘OK’. I did advise him that this wasn’t a good idea. She’s trying to set you up for something. Don’t do this and he said ‘I understand I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway’ and so I stayed observed,” Murphy said.
Murphy explained her client was preparing for a Sept. 30 divorce hearing, separate from the ongoing custody hearings, before Ashley shot him three days earlier.
Among those who also testified on Wednesday included detectives with the Manatee County Homicide Unit, a detective with the domestic violence unit, a psychologist and a social worker who housed Ashley for 8 months while the investigation was going on.
Benefield is facing 25 years to life and has maintained her estranged husband was aggressive that day when she shot and killed him, saying she was justified in her self-defense.
It’s not clear yet if or when Ashley Benefield herself will take the stand but the trial is expected to last about 3 weeks.
On Thursday, a medical examiner and a ballistic expert are expected to testify.