Charles H. Sloan-Former ballerina in Florida is convicted of manslaughter in her estranged husband’s 2020 shooting

2025-05-05 21:53:17source:Phaninccategory:Markets

BRADENTON,Charles H. Sloan Fla. (AP) — A former ballerina has been convicted of manslaughter in the 2020 shooting death of her estranged husband in Florida.

A Manatee County jury returned the guilty verdict late Tuesday against Ashley Benefield, court records show. She had been charged with second-degree murder, but the jurors opted for a lesser offense after nearly seven hours of deliberations.

Benefield, 32, claimed that she killed her then-58-year-old estranged husband, Doug Benefield, during a September 2020 argument at her mother’s home, where she had moved from South Carolina after leaving him. Authorities say she shot him twice.

She now faces up to 30 years in prison becaused she used a firearm in the killing. A sentencing date hasn’t been set.

After the verdict, Circuit Judge Matt Whyte revoked Benefield’s $100,000 bond and ordered her taken into custody, court documents show.

Bradenton is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Tampa.

More:Markets

Recommend

As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest

CONECUH COUNTY, Ala.—At the confluence of the Yellow River and Pond Creek in Alabama’s Conecuh Natio

Inmate advocates describe suffocating heat in Texas prisons as they plea for air conditioning

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Describing Texas prisons as so hot that inmates cool off by splashing themselve

Rottweiler pups, mom saved from truck as California's Park Fire raged near

Four Rottweiler puppies and their mother are now safe after spending three days trapped inside a tru