Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - "BLACK SWAN" BALLERINA CLAIMS OF SELF-DEFENSE FAIL

Episode Date: August 17, 2024

Ballerina and aspiring model Ashley Benefield is standing trial for shooting her then-husband, Doug Benefield, to death. The couple married just 13 days after meeting. They had a child, but their relationship was rocky, with frequent arguments reported between Ashley and Doug Benefield. Ashley Benefield claims her husband was abusive and volatile. As her pregnancy progressed, she moved in with her mother, denying Doug Benefield access to information about the baby, including her birth. Ashley Benefield planned to move out. Doug Benefield arrived at Ashley's home with a U-Haul truck to help pack for a move to Maryland. He believed he would be moving with the family but intended to live in a separate home. Ashley Benefield claims that Doug became angry while loading the truck, "body checked" her twice, hit her hip with the corner of a box, and caused her head to hit the wall. Fearing for her life, Ashley ran to her bedroom and retrieved a gun. She turned around and saw Doug standing in the doorway. Claiming Doug lunged toward her, Ashley fired the gun, shooting him twice—once in the leg and once in the chest, causing damage to his lungs and severe bleeding. It was determined that Doug was not directly facing Ashley at the time he was killed. JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY Brian Foley –  Board-certified Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Chief Prosecutor in Harris County, (Houston) Texas; Author: “What Prosecutors Don’t Tell You”; Instagram @brianfoleylawpllc/ YouTube – @brianfoleylawyer/X: @brianpllc Dr. Chloe Carmichael – Clinical Psychologist, Women’s Health Magazine Advisory Board;’ Author: ‘Nervous Energy: Harness The Power of Your Anxiety;’ X: @DrChloe Chris Byers – Former Police Chief -Johns Creek Georgia, Private Investigator and Polygraph Examiner Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” Twitter/X: @JoScottForensic Sophia Vitello – Reporter WWSB - ABC 7 News Sarasota, Florida Insta - @sophiavitellotv; FB - Sophia Vitello   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The so-called Black Swan ballerina shoots her hubby dead, claiming self-defense. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Listen. Commander to County 911, what is the address of your emergency? This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Listen. Man, are you calling 911? What is the address of your emergency? Hi, my address is White Rock Terrace.

Okay, can you repeat that for me to make sure I have it correctly? The house next door, honey, what's your address? Okay, it's right next door to me. She just came over. Her strange husband attacked her, and she says she shot him. Now, we've not gone over there yet. A doctor. Okay, what's his name? Who? What is his name? His name is Doug Benefield. What happened? Having worked in the Battered Women's Center for nearly 10 years while I was a prosecutor, I'm always suspicious when I hear people say she claimed self-defense. Is there some issue

in the last days? The former ballerina was convicted of manslaughter just hours after a jury began considering whether or not the shooting was self-defense. Benefield had been charged with second-degree murder, but she was convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter. How did the whole thing start? Let's listen to more of that 911 call. I have not gone over there. Okay, I don't want you to go over there.

Stay on the line just one moment. I'm going to connect you over to the sheriff's dispatch. Okay? Okay. One moment. Calm down, honey. Calm down. What is your name, sir?

My name is John Samp. K-M-T-I-L-I-V-E-N-E-X-T-O-M-A-N-T-R-E-S-T-A-T-R-E-N-A-R-R-E-C-O-R-E-D-E-N-L-I-N-E. This is Gabby. How can I help you? Hey, Gabby. It's Karen. On the 11327, I have John Singer on the phone. He's saying the neighbor came over, female neighbor.

It was a domestic. She shot her husband. So where's the gun? Listen. She came in. She was quite hysterical. I didn't know who was banging on my door. He attacked her, and she shot him.

Okay. I'm just getting that on the screen, okay? Okay. I know, honey. Come on. I know. Go ahead, ma'am. Where is the gun?

Is it with her or is it just... I have it right here, ma'am. It's sitting on the floor inside the door. My door's locked, so in case he isn't, he can't get up. I'm also armed if he does come over and try to harm her, just so everybody knows. Straight out to Sophia Vitello joining us, investigative reporter, WWSB, joining us out of Sarasota in this jurisdiction. Sophia, thank you for being with us. Start at the beginning. What happened? Very beginning of it all. I just want to start with the two met in 2016 at a dinner okay at a republican dinner she was 24 he was 54 so that's

already a first red flag right there they fall in love and in just 13 days sophia vitello wwsb you got me drinking from the fire hydrant here too much too fast okay hold on whoa okay first of all you said the age difference is a red flag. Tell me the age difference again. 24, Ashley. 54, Doug. Okay. Okay, probably not a red flag for him. Did I hear correctly?

In 13 days, they're married? I don't mean just like they had their first sleepover. I mean, they're married. They've done the deed. Yes. No engagement. I mean, we don't even know if they were fully calling each other girlfriend and boyfriend. They had the ring and got married 13 days after meeting.

13 days. Let me ask you another quick question, Sophia Vitello. Is he rich? I do believe he's well off. Let's just say that. And I do know that Ashley was struggling with a career in modeling that was not working out for her. So that can also be noted in the beginning of this relationship. Okay. Right. She wants to start her own ballet company. That's not cheap. And then suddenly, poof, presto, here comes money bags. Okay. Guys, when I start a murder case, if at all possible, I like to play the 911 call in the opening statement.

Brian Foley is with me, board certified criminal defense attorney, former chief prosecutor, Harris County and author of What Prosecutors Don't Tell You. I don't know about that. But Brian Foley, in order to play a 911 call in an opening statement, you must first offer a proffer and get it admitted into evidence before you play it for a jury. But do you agree or disagree that only a 911 call can take you back to the moment of the incident, unlike any witness can? Yeah, absolutely. When I was a prosecutor, we loved playing 911 calls, you know, if it sounds good. We hear a little bit at the beginning of that quirk that happens in 911 calls where the operator is stopping the drama and asking, well, what's the address? And that always ruffled my feathers because you can get transported back. You can hear her sobbing. You can hear the neighbor saying they're there and consoling her.

It really, it helps paint an audio picture for the jury. Sometimes I would ask the jury to close their eyes while we played it and their mind would create the scene for me. Wow. Okay. So, hey, right there, following up on what Brian Foley, and guys, he's a veteran trial lawyer out of Houston. Sophia Vitello, was there any acting in her background? You know, we can't prove that. But what I can say is that watching the trial, you know, she's put on a show. She's testified for four hours with the same facial expression, hysterically crying for four hours. And you know, I don't know if there's acting

in her background, but it seemed like she had this practice. I mean, she had this specific look that she presented to this jury. Guys, let's listen to more of the 911 call. I'm kind of concerned with her mother and the little girl might get back there and find this, whatever happened. Don't go out there, honey.

Come on. I know, I know. I know. Come on, sit down. Sit down, sit down. I know. Yeah. Sit down, honey.

Sit down. All right, I just want you guys to stay on the phone with me, okay? No, I'm right here with you. I'm just with her. Okay, you hear the neighbor who is consoling, we're calling her the ballerina. Her name is Ashley Benefield. She was 28 at the time of the shooting, at the time her husband, then-husband, Doug Benefield, was shot dead. Straight back out to Sophia Vitello, investigative reporter, WWSB. Tell me about the location of the shooting, the specific location.

Okay, so this is right after, you've got to remember, Ashley had left South Carolina. That was where they lived together. She moved into this Bradenton home. That was her mother's house in what we would call here Lakewood Ranch. Pretty nice area, I got to say. Nice house in a clean, safe area. Okay. So she was in her mother's home. Doug was there to help her move. That raises another question. If you were in a relationship with domestic violence, why did you invite the man who you say abused you to help you move? So that's another situation we have going on at her mother's house. That is the situation. Okay. Let me understand something. Joining me is Dr. Chloe

Carmichael, clinical psychologist and author of Nervous Energy, Harness the Power of your anxiety. I'm trying to do that right now, Dr. Chloe Carmichael, because after 10 years, nearly 11 years in the pit, trying at felonies, violent felonies in inner city Atlanta, and at night working at the battered women's center, I never once heard of one of those ladies, once they had finally made it out, which is a huge hurdle in itself, getting out of the home, successfully leaving the home and establishing the abuser, who she's so afraid of that she actually moves out back to help move. Help me out. Yes. As a clinical psychologist, Nancy, I actually have seen that before.

So the back and forth can certainly happen. Also, as a clinical psychologist working in New York City for a decade, I've also worked with New York City ballerinas. And I can tell you, indeed, they do have acting training. They're quite skilled at portraying the dramatic arts. I do also have a couple of questions for Sophia. I'm curious with this very quick marriage and, of course, having a child as we're exploring what is the financial background, Nancy, you had asked about if this gentleman was wealthy. I'm curious as well about if they had a prenuptial agreement. What I do know is that Doug was very much in love with Ashley. So what I can

tell you is that leading up to the day of the shooting, he was trying with everything that he could, every fiber in his being to be with her and make the marriage work. And plus, you've got the child. He has a child with her. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Did this so-called black swan ballerina murder her wealthy husband? Or was it self-defense? A whirlwind romance. These two actually marry 13 days after meeting at some political fundraiser.

They're married. The date is done. As a matter of fact, he has a vasectomy reversed. Ouch. So he and she can have a baby and they do have a baby girl. But what about all the forensics? Joining me right now, renowned death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and star of a hit series, Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan. Joe Scott, this issue comes up over and over and over, self-defense or murder. What have you learned by studying the case? It's fascinating to me, Nancy, that they're talking about self-defense here when you have the police stating that he was shot in the back. And out of all the homicides that I've worked

relative to particularly firearms, it's like threat level reduces at that point in time. So you wait until the individual turns away from you, if they are in fact an aggressor, and then you're going to place six fired shots or three fired shots into his back. That doesn't marry up with this idea of the individual being an aggressor at that moment in time, at that acute moment. It's almost like they're in retreat at that moment in time if this had happened. We've got gunshot. Well, I'm looking at the autopsy right now. And can I tell you, Joe Scott, as if you don't know, and I know you know Brian Foley, Chris Byers also joining us, former police chief in Johns Creek.

You guys know how critical the autopsy is, okay? If you look at it line by line, you learn everything there is to know about what you're going to try to prove or what you're not going to try to prove at trial. We've got a gunshot wound to the chest and gunshot wound to the right leg. How did that happen? Blunt impact of head. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Blunt impact of head. Cutaneous abrasion and soft tissue scalp contusion. So was he hit in the head and shot multiple times? Just got to help me out here. With the gunshot wound to the chest, it says perforation of right lateral chest wall with confluent chest tube incision. What does that mean? Well, what that means is that his lung has obviously been clipped in this round, with this round, and so his chest, the chest is actually filling with blood. So, if there is an attempt to depressurize that area where you have blood that's kind of surrounding

the lung in treatment, you'd have to drop a line in there because it's the pressure that's building up as a result of the blood contained in the chest cavity is inhibiting his ability to breathe. And this is something that happens all the time. Let me just break it down. I know it's hard for you not to talk like a medical professional, but are you saying his lung was clipped? You kept me to that moment. But then I

think you're saying that his lung started filling up with blood or his chest cavity started filling up with blood and he couldn't breathe. So they inserted a tube to try to save him. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. And one more thing that's really frustrating in forensics sometimes when we're trying to examine these insults like this, they will actually use and it's no fault of their own. They have to do what they have to do. But the people that are saving a life will actually use the gunshot wound itself as the place where they're going to put a tube in because there's no need in going in and creating another defect in the body where you can simply use this. Which totally ruins your trajectory investigation.

Yeah, it can. It can, yeah. Yeah. We also got perforation of right, fifth, and left, tenth ribs, and T10 vertebra. In a nutshell, dummy down for me, Joe Scott. Dummy down. What does that mean? Well, T10, you're talking about the thoracic vertebra at that point in time.

And also, I'm unclear if they have clipped a lung or clipped a rib. And it doesn't really give you directionality. One more thing here. They're saying chest. Most people don't understand we have an anterior chest and we have a posterior chest. So you hear the term chest and automatically front and back. And if it's lateral, then this can be the back that gives you an idea of orientation and presentation of the target. Stop, please. Ears hurting, ears bleeding now.

I'm just asking you T10 verte, that there's a perforation. That's your spine, correct? Yes, it is. So if he's shot in the spine, can he even move? Well, it all depends on how compromised that vertebral body is. Now, if it went into the area where the spinal cord goes down, drops through the little hole that's in there, the foramen as it's referred to. Yeah, that can be compromised and it can compromise your ability of mobility. Got a small isolated blast laceration of aorta.

The aorta. What do you mean? Aren't there several aorta in the body? So what is this aorta? Singular. It's the largest vessel in the body. And it literally runs if you front. we're talking about front, right? The front of the spine, okay?

The aorta runs down the length of the spine until it bifurcates into our legs, where it becomes the femoral arteries. And so, yeah, you see this associated with spinal trauma many times where the aorta will actually be clipped as well. That can lead to that space around the lungs and even the abdominal cavity filling with blood too. It becomes very complicated. I'm just trying to get my head around the fact that he's shot in T10 vertebra. That's your spine.

And I'm wondering if he couldn't even move. That projectile bullet is recovered. But now I've got a gunshot wound to the right leg. Sophia Vitello, how many times is the victim shot? Three times. Three times. Okay. And we've got perforations of lungs, gunshot wound to chest.

That's the COD cause of death. Three separate gunshot wound to chest. That's the COD cause of death. Three separate gunshot wounds. I'm trying to make sense of what we know right now, but I want you to hear what a judge, circuit court judge, Diana Moreland said from our friends at Inside Edition. You'll see that this was a custody battle, that this mother was going to win at all costs. And the cost was the life of Doug Benefield. I thought he was going to kill me. Black Swan ballerina Ashley Benefield testifies in her husband's murder trial. So Joe Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensic at Jacksonville State University, death investigator with over 1,000 deaths investigated by him,

says that the victim was shot in the back. Our investigative reporter joining us today from WWSB ABC 7 in Sarasota says there were three gunshot wounds. Okay, I think the word overkill may come into play right here, but having worked at the Battered Women's Center for so many years, I do not want to dissuade the consideration that she may have been a battered woman. Let's look at the relationship. Let's move away from the forensics, the gunshot residue, the trajectory path of the bullets. What do we know about them as a couple? Listen. Still grieving the sudden loss of his wife, Doug Benefield is rubbing elbows with

the rich and powerful at a GOP fundraiser at the Florida home of Dr. Ben Carson when he's introduced to a former ballerina. Ashley Byers is a swimsuit model and she and Benefield are smitten with each other and neither one seems to notice or care about their 30-year age gap. Ashley tells Doug she wants to have a ballet company using dancers of all sizes and genders. Doug wants to make her dreams come true. Doug returns from a trip and 13 days after they meet, Doug Benefield marries Ashley Byers. It is a shocking turn of events for a man with a teen daughter just nine years younger than his new wife. Okay, let me understand something, Sophia Vitello, hold on.

When you said model, you didn't tell me she was a swimsuit model. I mean, she's a gorgeous girl. She's a gorgeous girl. But what I do know is, you know, swimsuit model, we gotta use it lightly. Her career was not blowing up, you know? I'm not to say that she was in a position seeking money.

We don't know that specifically, but we do know that Doug was vulnerable. In that video, it says sudden, dealing with a sudden loss of his wife. Guys, it was less than a year. It was less than a year his wife had just died. Yes, and isn't it correct, Sophia Vitello, that his daughter, by his first wife, came home and found mommy dead on the floor from a heart ailment. Yes. So this guy is reeling. Yes, he's reeling. And so is his daughter. And Eva says that she had talked to her dad and he said, I'm not going to get into anything. I'm not going to get into anything fast. And next thing you know,

Eva says her dad was married and it really shocked her. That's another thing. Shocked her. Okay. Very quickly after the wedding, things turned sour. Listen. In the first days of their wedded bliss, Doug and Ashley Benefield argue loudly. Doug's daughter, Eva asks if one of her friends can move in with them for a while. And now Doug has two teen girls in the house and a wife who not only wants to create a ballet company that Doug says he will help finance, she also wants a baby. Doug starts making calls about the ballet and about having his vasectomy reversed. Okay, what do you have to do to have a vasectomy reversed, Joe Scott Morgan, in a nutshell? You have to go back in and actually reattach the vas deferens so that they're functional at that point in time.

The vas deferens. I don't even know what you're saying, man. What? Go back into what? The penis? It's anatomical. You can say penis. Okay, so you.

No, I'm not talking about penis, Nancy. I'm not talking about penis. The little two. If you were clear the first time, I wouldn't have to ask. Well, we'll talk about testicles. How's that instead of peni? We're talking about attachment. Joe Scott, I don't care. I know that the peanut gallery may giggle,

but you meet a man in 13 days, you're married and you convince him to have surgery on his testicles. Okay. That's love. So he has surgery on his testicles. He has a vasectomy. It's kind of a snip, snip in and out. Correct? The vasectomy is yes, but now you're talking about a reattachment to make it functional once again. And, uh, you know, all I have to say is if that's the case, she must have been quite beguiling and bewitching because this is a really quick decision to make. So how difficult is it?

And what does the man have to undergo to have a vasectomy reversal? And again, there's no giggling. This is real. The guy's dead. He shot three times, once in the back. It's not holding together for me. But into the thinking, the thinking of these two. I just want to know how difficult it is and what a man must endure to have a vasectomy reversal. It's not very difficult at all.

It's done all the time, literally. And it can be done actually on an outpatient basis. Most guys would like to remain in the hospital if they could. There is pain associated with this. Make no mistake about that. A lot of post-operatives, swelling and this sort of thing. So yeah, it takes time and it is a painful process to go through. So obviously, he it takes it takes time and it is a painful process to go through. So obviously, he felt like she was worth it. Joining me right now, private investigator, owner of Byers Investigative Services. But for my purposes, former police chief, Johns Creek, 25 years in L.A. law enforcement. Chris Byers, it'll be a cold day, cold, frigid, cold day in H-E-L-L that I do not support

a battered woman's right to defend herself against her abuser. All right. Absolutely. Absolutely. But I cannot turn away from physical forensic evidence. Forensic evidence, unless it's been tampered with, does not lie. Now, what do you think? Absolutely. In any of these cases, that's what you do. You follow the evidence. And from what I'm hearing on this as well, the three shots shot in the back,

it does not present as someone who was about to receive imminent death or great bodily harm, which is what you need for this self-defense. So yes, with what I'm hearing about the forensics of this, yeah, that's a far stretch to show self-defense. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To get to the truth of this case, the so-called Black Swan Ballerina, what do we know? Okay, we know that very quickly after the meetup at a political fundraiser, the two get

married within 13 days. And she announces not only does she want her husband to fund a ballet company, which is not a cheap endeavor, that things go south. Not only does she want the ballet company, she also wants her husband to reverse a vasectomy so she can have a baby, which he does. Everything's going sideways, including money woes. Listen. Doug Benefield, trying to hold together the ballet company that was his wife's dream, arrives to find that Ashley and her mother drive from Florida to Charleston, pack up Ashley's personal belongings, and leave a note for Doug. The marriage is over,

calling him possessive and controlling in the note. She says she is fearful for her life and the safety of her unborn child. Okay, so she moves in with the mom, listen. Ashley Benefield moves in with her mother in Florida and begins a process to prevent Doug Benefield from being involved in the life of his own child. Frustrated, Doug Benefield uses an attorney

to reach out to Ashley Benefield by email. Frustrated, Doug Benefield uses an attorney to reach out to Ashley Benefield by email. Ashley has not kept Doug informed of anything with regard to her pregnancy. And one day after receiving the email from Doug's lawyer, Ashley Benefield has labor induced, even though she's weeks away from her due date. Ashley then refuses to communicate with Doug. He isn't even aware his daughter is born for six weeks. Oh, my stars. OK, Sophia Vitello joining us, investigative reporter, WWSB. So she kept the birth of the baby a secret and did not tell the husband. Yeah. And this is really the state's entire argument here that Ashley decided she wanted to be a single mother the second she got pregnant. That's their whole

argument against her saying that it was self-defense because there have been all of these instances where she got pregnant, she immediately moved, right? And then she made sure that he didn't even know that the baby was born until six weeks after. So she wanted him to have nothing to do with the child that they shared. Now I want you to hear what the so-called Black Swan, by the way, she doesn't like that moniker, has to say.

Listen. Douglas Benefield was a violent abuser. I said, stop. And he like turned and he got into this like, it was like a fighting stance. And he thought he was going to kill me. He started coming towards me and then he lunged at me and I just started pulling the trigger. Okay. Again, from our friends at Inside Edition. But Joe Scott Morgan, did you hear what she just

said? This is critical, Joe Scott. She said he lunged at her. If he lunged at her, the bullet should be front to back. Yeah, when he lunged at her with his shoulder blades, that doesn't make sense at all. The calculus doesn't work out here. Lunging means that you're moving toward the individual. The indication is, what we're hearing, is that he was shot posteriorly. Now, we don't know the precise trajectories here, but it just doesn't mesh. And I got to tell you, Nancy, from a forensic standpoint, this is one of the major benchmarks as to why the police moved forward with this case. What do you mean? One of the benchmarks as to why police moved forward? Yeah, the beauty of this is that the science doesn't lie. She's actually

saying that he lunged toward her. And all indications are is that these gunshot wounds that this man has sustained are posterior on his backside or at least lateral. It doesn't marry up with this so-called fighter stance, whatever the hell that means, that he goes into, according to her. The science doesn't marry up here. And that's one of the big, we used the term red flag a moment ago. For an investigator, that's a big red flag. When the police have spoken with the ME, which I guarantee they did that day, and try to marry this up with a statement that she's giving. The two things just don't mesh.

OK, I want to go back to Sophia Vitello joining us, investigative reporter, WWSB. Are we correct that at least one of the shots was back to front? According to dozens of hours, honestly, of testimony, everything that we have heard, he was facing the other way. Right. Are you saying he was shot in the back very simply according to medical examiner's testimony yes he was shot in the back okay then what she's saying cannot be true and you know uh let me understand brian foley joining me uh renowned criminal defense attorney and author, Brian, it is possible that he is shot in the back and, and was attacking her. He could have attacked her and then turned to get a weapon. He could have attacked her and tried to push off a dog. There are many reasons he could have turned his back and still be the aggressor. However, her story is impossible based on the bullet path trajectory.

Yes. And when we listen to a defendant give a statement about a very traumatic event, these things really happen a lot faster than people think. You don't have time to react in between shots. You know, some people say, well, why did you have to shoot him two more times if he'd already been shot? He's not a, you know, the other two bullets aren't self-defense, even if the first one was, but these all happen way too fast for that to be the case. And one thing I wanted to add is the prosecution doesn't have to prove that she lied about how it happened.

You know, if the forensic evidence shows that her statement is inaccurate, that doesn't mean that she's not doing it in self-defense. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there's no other possibility that it was in self-defense. And Nancy, you hit the nail on the head. They said she had to run back. That's not true. Nobody has to prove no possibility beyond any doubt whatsoever, such as to a mathematical certainty like two and two plus is four. Two and two equals four. That's not the legal standard. The legal standard is beyond a reasonable doubt. She has raised the affirmative defense of self-defense, which means affirmative defense. I did it, but I'm excused because self-defense, which means affirmative defense.

I did it, but I'm excused because self-defense, because accident, because insanity, different reasons. But the state only has to pierce that beyond a reasonable doubt, not to a mathematical certainty. that while an attacker can rarely be shot in the back and still be the aggressor, never happens, it's possible her story does not coincide with the wounds. That's what I'm saying, Brian Foley. Well, her story does coincide a little bit there in the fact that he has an abrasion on his head. That would tend to show that there was a struggle, maybe even an attack on her. And so that could have happened before he was killed. You know, we don't have the exact photos or anything like that. It is OK.

You know what? Let's follow through with that. Brian Foley. Did she say, Sophia Vitello, that there was a physical struggle and then somehow she hit him in the head? No, she said that he was trying to strike her for the first time and she fired. So it is believed that he did not. He did not reach her. Jessica Morgan, what were you saying?

Yeah, one of the things that's very troubling to me, Nancy, are these head injuries that he has sustained because they're calling one of them a laceration. As you well know, that's blunt force trauma. And one of the things that we think about when someone holding a weapon, if we have a dummy weapon here from JSU that we use at Jack State to train our students with, you see these very definitive edges here, right here. And actually, I've worked cases where weapons like this can be used almost like a hammer. They're very blunted. And that's where you, I can't imagine her as quote-unquote athletic as she may have been, that she's going to score a hit to his head that's going to generate a laceration. That's severe blunt force trauma. I'm wondering if there are trace elements of his

blood on this weapon. And did they try to match this up with the injury he sustained to his head? Because how's she going to get in close enough in order to generate that kind of force with her bare hands? I think there's a high probability that once he's down, she may have struck him in the head. In other words, simply put, barehanded. Maybe stomping on somebody, but not barehanded. No. Yeah. Got it. One thing that's very disturbing, I've got a lot of evidence stating that this is not self-defense, but Savia Vitello, isn't it true that evidence is coming in that he, the victim, hit the dog and the cat out of anger? Yeah, so those are some things we have to look at.

And that is where the defense is pushing their entire argument. We have his abuse. We don't know how many times or what the situation specifically was towards the pets. We have a fist in the wall. We have a bullet mark in the ceiling of their house. OK, so we see here that maybe there was some moments of anger and we don't know exactly what happened, but that's where the defense is using. Hey, Doug was violent. Look, he hit the dog. He punched the wall. Why couldn't it have been Ashley? Sophia, I think this text purportedly is from him. I punched the dog because you got me so mad like you wouldn't stop about Eva. Always Eva. Every argument, Eva. Who is Eva, Sophia? Eva is Doug's daughter. And I'd like to add, I've talked to her several times

and she tells me that they were constantly together, touching each other, lovey-dovey. And so maybe there was a bit of jealousy on Ashley's end because I did not pick it up from Eva's end while I was interviewing her. Nancy, ultimately, the jury did not believe Ashley Benefield's account that she was at risk when she shot her husband and killed him. In his closing argument, Benefield's defense attorney Neil Taylor said his client did what any law-abiding citizen would do when dealing with an abusive partner. According to the defense, she filed complaint after complaint calling Doug Benefield's behavior to the attention of authorities with no result. No one else was home when Benefield's behavior to the attention of authorities, with no result.

No one else was home when Benefield shot her husband, but according to state prosecutors, there was no evidence that Benefield had been struck in the face and her testimony about the event had been evasive. Now, the 32-year-old Ashley Benefield is facing a sentence of up to 30 years in a state prison after being convicted of manslaughter. She will learn her fate in October. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace signing off. Good night, friend.

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