‘Black Swan Murder’ ballerina Ashley Benefield sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder of her husband

The former ballerina convicted of killing her wealthy husband – in a high-profile case that became known as the Black Swan murder – has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Ashley Benefield, 33, remained stone-faced as her fate was read in a Florida court on Monday, five months after she was convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of her 58-year-old husband, Doug Benefield, in 2020.

“I’ve waited so long to talk to her in person,” Doug’s daughter Eva said during her victim impact statement. “I hope prison serves her well.”

Benefield faces up to 30 years in prison because, according to her lawyers, the killing was in self-defense.

Judge Mathew Whyte acknowledged that she may have acted under duress but said he could not reduce her sentence, NBC News reported.

Prosecutors argued the shooting was part of an elaborate ploy by Benefield to gain custody of the couple’s child. According to court testimony, evidence from the crime scene indicated that her husband had been rejected when she shot him twice during a fight at her mother’s home.

Jurors acquitted the young mother of second-degree murder in July, agreeing that she pulled the trigger in self-defense after her lawyers argued that Doug was an abusive husband who terrorized her physically and emotionally.

The couple were embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their baby, which Benefield allegedly kept away from her husband for six months after its birth – with Doug only being allowed to visit with a court order.

During her pregnancy, Benefield began complaining to law enforcement that Doug was abusing her – even claiming he once fired a gun into the ceiling to stop her from speaking, knocked her dog unconscious and always had a loaded gun “held back and ready to fire,” the defense said.

Despite their 30-year age difference – they were 24 and 54 when they met – the couple married just 13 days after they met in 2016.

Doug worked in defense and private equity and Benefield was a trained ballerina. Together they founded a ballet company to fulfill Benefield’s lifelong dream.

But the deal quickly failed and Benefield became pregnant soon after.

At that point, her defense argued that their relationship began to break down and Doug allegedly became abusive, leading Benefield to move from her home in South Carolina to her mother in Florida and later make plans to relocate to Maryland.

On the night of the shooting, Doug had shown up at her mother’s house to confront her when she claimed he had become violent and began hitting and pushing her.

After she fled to her bedroom and pulled out a gun, she claimed Doug followed her and she was forced to open fire after he ignored her pleas to “stop.”

“I thought he was going to kill me,” she testified during the trial.

According to the Guardian, Doug was never charged with a crime and investigators said Benefield showed no signs of physical abuse after the shooting.

Prosecutors argued that her abuse allegations and court allegations amounted to little more than an act – and that it was all part of a play to win custody of her child.