Ashley Benefield says she shot her husband multiple times in self-defense.
Doug and Ashley Benefield seemed to have a fairy tale romance -- a beautiful ballerina swept off her feet by a dashing older man, married only 13 days after they started dating. However, less than four years later, Doug would be dead, killed by Ashley in what she claims was self-defense.
However, Ashley Benefield's attorney argued that she was trapped in an abusive relationship, stating that Doug Benefield was a manipulative, controlling and abusive man.Doug and Ashley met in 2016 at a political event. They instantly connected despite their 30-year age difference. Doug was a recently widowed father to a teenage daughter named Eva.
According to court documents filed by the defense, Ashley claims Doug struck her, hitting her on the side of her head, and then tried to keep her from leaving the room. The high-profile case has been coined "the Black Swan murder trial," named after the movie starring Natalie Portman. The movie tells the story of a tortured artist whose quest for perfection leads to mental instability. Ashley's ballet background inspired the title.
"I am really doing it for other people because I know I'm not alone in this," Ashley said. "There are women all over the country, all over the world, who have gone through or are going through hard situations behind closed doors. The statistic is like 1 in 3, 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence of some sort in their lifetime. And until you have been there or it's someone that you know and care about, it's not something that you think about.
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