Two of Ashley Benifield's fellow ballerinas have opened up about seeing her husband Douglas' “angry side” in a new podcast, hoping the creators can support her claim that she shot him to defend herself from domestic violence at his hands.
Ashley Benefield – Founded a ballet company in 2017 with her husband Douglas Benefield. A convicted murderer will die in 2020 after shooting him in July, even though she claims she was protecting herself from domestic violence at his hands.
Former American National Ballet (ANB) members Hannah Manga and Sarah Walborn discuss their views on Douglas Benefield publicly for the first time in a new Law and Crime podcast in the US.
According to an excerpt provided to the Guardian by Law & Crime, Manga recalled realizing things were amiss when he walked into the performance theater ANB was going to use for its first season — and there was no publicity about the company's planned gala. performance.
“Absolutely nothing,” Manga said in the first two episodes of the Black Swan Murder podcast. Released Monday to subscribers of Wondery+'s library. “It's a little different.”
Walbourne added that it was clear that their superiors had no plan for the random choreography that worked for them. “It was very apparent in the studio that it was a flurry and there was no end goal with the material we were working on in the studio.”
As Walbourn put it, Douglas Benefield tried to address his dancers' concerns by creating a video with “inspirational quotes from people” and presenting it to the dancers. “He sat us all down in the room … to watch it … with tears in his eyes … and said: 'Look, this is what we're doing,'” added Walbourne.
But Walbourn said the tactic — which he described as manipulative — failed to move the group because “there are a number of concerns,” including the apparent absence of Ashley Benefield and the fact that the dancers were not paid. Realizing that the dancers were running out of patience, Walbourn recalled that Douglas Benefield appeared one day “with a lot of money and everybody. [handed] Each dancer their allotted money” with the hope that it will “fix everything”.
The podcast noted how a company that boasted a $2.5m budget couldn't cut steady paychecks and how the dancers were baffled. Walbourn urged his colleagues how one of the dancers stood up at that point and said, “Keep your records and receipts for your own protection because this is weird.”
This, in turn, prompted Douglas Benefield to raise his voice and say: “You don't have to keep the receipts – don't worry about it. According to Walbourne, I took care of it.
“Doug came out really angry with him — it was the first time I'd ever seen him angry,” Walbourn continued. “At the time, it was strange to me that he was so interested in this conversation. And it painted a picture of future encounters I had with him along the way.
The American National Ballet was founded in Charleston, South Carolina within a year of its origin. Douglas and Ashley Benefield's marriage broke up, they were locked in a custody battle over their daughter, and on 27 September 2020, he shot and killed her at their home in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.
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They argued that Ashley Benefield, 58, was defending herself from domestic violence charges against her and that her use of deadly force was justified. She testified that she feared for her life when she shot her estranged husband who prevented her from leaving the house that day.
But prosecutors argued that the evidence surrounding Douglas Benefield's slaying did not match Ashley Benefield's account of the fatal confrontation. They maintained that Ashley Benefield killed him out of frustration over a custody battle – and that she was unwilling to reconcile with Douglas Benefield because she wanted to keep her daughter.
A jury in Benefield's case declined to convict her of murder, but found her guilty of the reduced charge of manslaughter, an involuntary manslaughter, which is unlawful. He faces 11 to 30 years in prison at a sentencing hearing tentatively scheduled for Oct. 22.
Black Swan Murder is the fourth of five Law & Crime titles planned for Wonder+. Its three predecessors – The Rise and Fall of Ruby Frank, Sins of the Child and Karen – have all proved popular.
