Wednesday, July 31, 2024

The Black Swan

For the past week and a bit, I had checked in on a murder trial that was being aired live on YouTube through the Law and Crime Network.

It came out of Florida. The defendant was Ashley Benefield, who was on trial for the murder of her husband - Doug Benefield. 

The prosecution claimed that Ashley murdered Doug by shooting him in the back. If I recall correctly, two of four shots fired struck the victim.

Benefield's side argued the killer did her act in self-defence and brought evidence of situations between the pair. For example, it was alleged Doug fired a gun in their home as a intimidation tactic. Text messages from Doug to another wife were also used to cast shadow on his character.

The jury went into deliberation yesterday evening (my time!) and I stayed up to see if a verdict was reached.

I spent the best part of the week undecided. Some times there was a strong case made by the prosecution and then I'd find myself leaning on Ashley's side.

I truly thought it could go either way and I didn't expect the verdict to come out in the early hours of this morning.

My TV woke me up when the jury told the court they couldn't reach a verdict. Then, I woke up a little under an hour later right when an officer was handcuffing Ashley. 

So - I missed seeing the most important part live after all the days I followed the trial.

I rewound the YouTube stream to catch the verdict.

Ashley was found guilty of manslaughter. The prosecution had wanted to have her for a stronger crime of second degree murder.

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