Husband allegedly killed by ex-ballerina had ‘indignant facet’, say fellow ballerinas

Two of Ashley Benefield’s fellow ballerinas have opened up about seeing her husband Douglas’s “indignant facet” in a brand new podcast that the creators imagine may assist her claims of later having shot him to dying to defend herself from home violence at his fingers.

Ashley Benefield – who co-founded a ballet firm in 2017 alongside her husband, Douglas Benefield – was convicted of manslaughter in July after taking pictures him to dying in 2020 regardless of claiming that she was defending herself from home violence at his fingers.

Former American Nationwide Ballet (ANB) members Hanna Manka and Sarah Walborn publicly mentioned their perspective on Douglas Benefield for the primary time in a brand new Legislation & Crime podcast exploring Ashley Benefield’s conviction on the so-called “Black Swan homicide trial” that drew consideration throughout the US.

Based on an excerpt that Legislation & Crime supplied to the Guardian, Manka recalled sensing that issues had been amiss when she visited the efficiency theater that the ANB was purported to be utilizing for its debut season – and seeing no promoting in any respect in regards to the firm’s deliberate gala efficiency.

“Completely nothing on this system,” Manka mentioned on the excerpt of the podcast titled Black Swan Homicide, whose first two episodes had been launched Monday to subscribers of Wondery+’s library. “That’s a bit odd.”

Walborn added that it grew to become apparent there was no plan for the random choreography their superiors had been giving them to work on. “It was very obvious within the studio that it was a bunch of charades and that there was no final purpose with the fabric that we had been engaged on within the studio.”

As Walborn informed it, Douglas Benefield tried to satiate his dancers’ considerations by making a video with “a bunch of inspirational quotes from folks” and presenting it to the dancers. “He sat us all down within the room … to look at it and … had tears in his eyes … saying: ‘See, that is what we’re working in direction of,’” Walborn added.

However Walborn mentioned the ploy – which she described as manipulation – failed to maneuver the group as a result of “there have been so many different considerations concerned,” together with the information that Ashley Benefield was conspicuously absent and dancers weren’t being paid. Realizing that the ballerinas’ persistence was operating out, Walborn recalled how Douglas Benefield confirmed up someday “with some huge cash and one-by-one [handed] every dancer their allotment of money” with hopes that it will “repair every little thing”.

The podcast famous how dancers had been baffled that an organization which had boasted of a $2.5m finances was unable to chop normal payroll checks. Walborn recounted how one of many dancers at that time stood up and urged her colleagues to “preserve your information and receipts of what’s happening it order to guard your self as a result of that is odd”.

In flip, that prompted Douglas Benefield to boost his voice and say: “You don’t must preserve receipts – don’t fear about it. I’ve it taken care of,’” based on Walborn.

“Doug got here out with a really indignant facet to him – this was the primary time I had seen him indignant,” Walborn continued. “And on the time, that was odd to me that he was so keen about this dialog that was being had. And it painted an image of the longer term encounters that I had with him alongside the way in which.”

The American Nationwide Ballet folded inside a yr of its being based in Charleston, South Carolina. Douglas and Ashley Benefield’s marriage crumbled, they grew to become locked in a custody battle over their daughter, and on 27 September 2020 she shot him to dying at their house in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.

Attorneys for Ashley Benefield, 33, argued that she was defending herself from home violence inflicted upon her by Douglas Benefield, 58, and that her lethal use of pressure was justifiable. She testified that she feared for her life when she shot her estranged husband, who blocked her from leaving her house that day, struck her and lunged at her whereas she held a gun.

However prosecutors argued that the proof surrounding Douglas Benefield’s killing didn’t match Ashley Benefield’s account of the deadly confrontation. They maintained Ashley Benefield murdered him out of frustration with the custody battle – and that she needed to maintain her daughter to herself as a result of she had little interest in reconciling with Douglas Benefield.

The jury who heard Benefield’s case refused to convict her of homicide however discovered her responsible of the lowered cost of manslaughter, which is an unintentional killing that’s nonetheless unlawful. She is going through between 11 and 30 years in jail at a sentencing listening to tentatively scheduled for 22 October.

Black Swan Homicide is the fourth of 5 titles that Legislation & Crime has deliberate for Wondery+. Its three predecessors – The Rise and Fall of Ruby Franke, Sins of the Baby and Karen – have all confirmed widespread.