Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - "BLACK SWAN" BALLERINA LOSES SELF-DEFENSE BID: SENTENCED 20 YEARS

Episode Date: December 7, 2024

Ballerina and aspiring model Ashley Benefield stood trial for shooting her then-husband, Doug Benefield, to death. After her self-defense claim failed, a court sentenced her to 20 years in prison. The couple married just 13 days after meeting. They had one child, but their relationship was tumultuous, with frequent arguments reported between Ashley and Doug. Ashley Benefield alleged that Doug was abusive and volatile. As her pregnancy progressed, she moved in with her mother, denying Doug access to information about the baby, including the child's birth. Ashley planned to move out. Doug arrived at Ashley's home with a U-Haul truck to help pack for a move to Maryland. He believed he would move with the family but intended to live in a separate home. Ashley claimed that Doug became angry while loading the truck, "body-checked" her twice, struck her hip with the corner of a box, and caused her head to hit a wall. Fearing for her safety, she ran to her bedroom and retrieved a gun. She alleged that Doug was standing in the doorway and lunged at her. Ashley fired the gun, hitting him twice—once in the leg and once in the chest. The chest wound caused lung damage and severe bleeding. Investigators determined that Doug was not directly facing Ashley at the time of the shooting. 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. In the last hours, a so-called black swan ballerina, Ashley Benefiel, has a date in court with Lady Justice after she's charged with murdering her husband. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. That's right. In the last days, Ashley Bannafield, dubbed the Black Swan, showed no emotion, a cold reaction in court as she is sentenced for murdering her husband. The former ballerina is sentenced to 20 years behind bars after she's found guilty of fatally shooting the husband. Benefield, convicted of manslaughter, has 30 days to appeal her sentence

after a jury finds she killed Doug Benefield in her Florida home in September. She claimed the act was self-defense. Okay, what exactly happened? Manage County 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. Okay, what's his name? Who? What is his name? His name is Doug Benefield. What happened?

Having worked at 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? 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. Let's listen to more of that 911 call. I'm Sean Samp, KMTI Live Next. I'm a dispatcher on a recorded line. 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, a 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 the 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. Don't worry, he's not coming after her. He's dead.

With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we are learning in the so-called Black Swan Homicide Trial claims that this young ballerina mom is also a killer. 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. 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 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, she put on a show. She testified for four hours on Friday

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 she definitely had this. It seemed like she had this practice. I mean, she had this specific look that she presented to this jury. Okay, hold on. I'm making notes as fast as I can. Specific look presented to jury. Did this so-called black swan ballerina murder her wealthy husband? Or was it self-defense? Okay, 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. 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 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 yourself in another domicile here with her mother. I've never heard of one of the ladies that I dealt with anyway,

over the course of nearly 10 years, inviting the perpetrator, 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 and if we know anything about the life insurance or if there could have possibly been any financial component to this, just so we know the context. Okay, you know what? Very interesting that you said that, Dr. Chloe. My next question for our investigative reporter, Sophia Vitello, it's life insurance. That's what's scrawled right there. Life insurance. What do we know about that, Sophia Vitello? Have we heard anything about that in the courtroom? That is something that I have been looking into and no one has been mentioning it. I've been finding that a lot of things are kind of tight wrapped or tight lipped here. Even with, you could think of the

restraining order that was out in South Carolina. We can't know anything about that either. You know, so there's a lot of things that are secret. 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. So if there was any life insurance, her name was on it. Yeah. And plus you've got the child. He has a child with her, a whirlwind romance. These two actually marry 13 days after meeting at some political fundraiser, they're married. The deed 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? I'm going to bring in Joseph

Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, joining us from Jacksonville State University. But first, a tiny, tiny bit of evidence from our friends at Inside Edition. Do you believe that your father was abusive toward his wife? Absolutely not. He was the furthest thing from abusive in any way. Do you think she intended to shoot and kill him? Yes, I believe that it was actually intentional and it was planned prior to her shooting. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Welcome back in the last days. The so-called black swan ballerina, Ashley Benefield's cold reaction in court as she is sentenced for murdering her husband.

In court, Doug Benefield, her husband, daughter spoke saying, quote, you have managed to orphan not one, but two young girls referring to herself and the ballerina's young daughter. She goes on to say in court, Ashley, since the day you shot my father, I've only had one question to ask you. Why? Why did you end my dad's life knowing he was my only living parent and the only person I could confide in and count on for everything I needed as I turned into a young adult? Of course, during the trial, the black swan ballerina,

Ashley Beneville, took the stand to tell her side of the story, breaking down in tears, wah, wah, recounting her, let me just say, volatile relationship with husband Doug, which she claimed included abuse leading up to the deadly shooting. Now, according to the timeline, the two stopped living together after she became pregnant with his child that turned out to be a daughter. What did the jury learn? What happened? Joining me right now, as I mentioned, 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 almost like 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 you think it's going to be anterior, 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 vertebra, 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 wounds. At trial, the so-called black swan ballerina insisted her husband attacked her in her home and she was forced to shoot him in self-defense. Her testimony was, and I state verbatim, I just held the gun like in front of me and I said, stop. And he like turned and he got into this almost like a fighting stance. He started moving his arms and his hands around. He started coming toward me and he lunged at me and I just pulled the trigger. Wow. That sounds a lot like what Jodi Arias said on her third or fourth version of quote, her truth to the jury. They

didn't buy it either. Prosecutors in the black Swan ballerina case said the altercation was very different than, than what Ashley Benefiel says. The prosecutors say the shooting happened after she, the ballerina, tried to win a custody battle and wanted victory at all costs. Prosecutors also pointed out husband Doug was not armed the night he was shot dead. They argue the motive was sole custody and that equals murder. What more happened that night? So, Joe Scott Morgan, a 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 Battery 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 got to 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.

Mm-hmm. Yes, he's reeling. And so is his daughter. And Eva says that she had talked to her dad. And he said, oh, I'm not going to get into oh, I'm not I'm not going to get into anything. You know, I'm 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. OK, 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. No, I'm not talking about penis,'m not i'm not talking about penis nancy

i'm not talking about penis uh the little two if you were clear the first time i wouldn't have to ask well we'll we'll talk about testicles how's that instead of peni uh we're talking about uh attachment just got 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, 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-operative swelling and this sort of thing. So, yeah, 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 LA law enforcement Chris Byers it'll be a cold day cold frigid cold day in H E double 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 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. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. The black swan ballerina Ashley Benefield married her husband when she's 24 after just knowing him two weeks. His wife had passed away just nine months earlier when he was 54. 30 year age difference. Their marriage included a very difficult attempt to start a ballet company. What more do we know about their

let me say tumultuous relationship? 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 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. 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 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.

Talking about psychological warfare, Dr. Chloe Carmichael with us, clinical psychologist way in Dr. Chloe. Yes. Thank you, Nancy. I've just been bursting over here. So thank you for playing that tape of the daughter. I just think it's really important when we look at the daughter testifying as to her opinion regarding her father, we have to remember a couple of things. First of all, the daughter herself may have a financial motive. So especially when you have an opposite sex child, so a daughter in this case, whose father has now married another woman, there can actually be a lot of rivalry between the daughter and the stepmother, right? And so we even saw some of that reflected

in the text messages. Additionally, there could even be a financial motivation, because if perhaps we don't know a lot about the life insurance or the estate, but if that was set to go to Ashley, unless Ashley's a murderer, then perhaps it would go to Ava, the daughter. And we could also see through the text messages that the daughter was indeed a source of conflict. And Nancy, of course, I agree with you that we don't want to disbelieve a battered woman. On the other hand, I think it can cheapen cases of battered women when we don't do our due diligence and understand that sometimes, and I'm not saying it's the case here, but women can have ulterior motives for sometimes actually being untruthful. And we just don't know what happened here. Now I want you to hear what the

so-called black swan, by the way, she doesn't like that moniker has to say, 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 he started coming towards me 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 move forward with this case. What do you mean? One of the benchmarks as to why police move 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 use the term red flag a moment ago, for an investigator, that's a big red flag when you've got, 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. Okay, 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 from this past week, everything that we have heard in court was that he was facing the other way.

And the defense has tried to disprove that. 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, let me understand Brian Foley joining me, a 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 now 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, because accident, because insanity, different reasons.

But the state only has to pierce that beyond a reasonable doubt, not to a mathematical certainty. And the fact 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. Okay. 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 weapons like this can be used almost like a hammer, they're very blunted. And that's where 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 is 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. Yeah, got it. One thing that's very disturbing, I've got a lot of evidence stating that this is not

self-defense, but Sevilla Vitello, isn't it true that evidence is 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 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, 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. So there you have it. The black swan ballerina, Ashley Benefield, sentenced to hard jail time, 20 years behind bars, in the shooting death of husband, Doug. Her cold reaction in court as she's sentenced says it all. I'm not sorry I did it.

I'm just sorry I got caught. I don't think we've seen the last. I'm the Black Swan ballerina, Ashley Benefield. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.