Former ballerina guilty in husband’s death gets 20 years

MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — The former ballerina found guilty of killing her husband in 2020 has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Despite requests for a new trial from her attorneys, Ashley Benefield received a 20-year sentence Tuesday in a Bradenton courtroom from Circuit Judge Matt Whyte.

Benefield’s sentence will get credit for time served. Her sentence will be followed by 10 years probation.

Benefield, 33, was found guilty in July. She had been charged with second-degree murder, but the jurors opted for a lesser offense of manslaughter.

After the verdict this summer, Whyte revoked Benefield’s $100,000 bond and ordered her taken into custody, court documents show.

Benefield, claimed that she killed her then-58-year-old estranged husband, Doug Benefield, during a September 2020 argument at her mother’s home, where she had moved from South Carolina after leaving him.

According to police, she shot him twice.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.