“The Black Swan” Ashley Benefield, who was convicted by a Florida jury of manslaughter in her husband’s death, will learn her fate next month.

The 33-year-old ballerina was initially accused of shooting her husband, 58-year-old Douglas Benefield, in their home in Lakewood Ranch, Florida in 2020.

After deliberating for more than six hours, the jury found Benefield guilty of the lesser offense. Benefield, who faces 11 to 30 years in prison, will be sentenced on October 22.

The trial, which began on July 24, was dubbed “The Black Swan Murder Trial” in reference to the 2010 psychological thriller “Black Swan Murder Trial.” Black Swan.

The couple met at a political event in 2016 and married 13 days later.

Ashley Benefield campaigned for former President Donald Trump before the 2016 election and reportedly became part of his inner circle.

“He offered me a job right away,” Benefield claimed in an interview with Vanity Fair.

After Trump’s election victory, she was denied a job in the government. She then founded a ballet company with her husband.

Former dancers claimed that mismanagement led to the sudden firing of several members of the company. Ashley Benefield spoke out publicly against the company she founded after learning of the firings.

While her professional career was faltering, Ashley Benefield was also struggling with marital problems. In her court testimony, she claimed she had been repeatedly abused.

“Sometimes it was as simple as him just screaming and yelling at me or cursing and verbally abusing me,” Ashley Benefield said during the trial. “Sometimes he would throw things, break things or smash things. He would walk toward me like he was going to hit me. He told me he was lucky he was hitting walls and not me.”

On September 27, 2020, in the midst of an escalating conflict, Ashley Benefield grabbed a gun and shot Doug Benefield.

“I thought he was going to kill me,” she said during her testimony.

Benefield’s lawyer argued that it was an act of self-defense.

“Ashley Benefield feared him,” said defense attorney Neil Taylor. “When she moved out three years before the murder, she left him a letter detailing how afraid she was of him for all of these actions. She feared for herself and for her unborn child. Three years before the shooting. She left him, he pursued her. She rejected him, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. She despised him at times, but he didn’t care. She moved away to get away from him, he followed her.”

Prosecutor Suzanne O’Donnell claimed that Benefield wanted to keep Doug Benefield away from her and her child, but her attempts to do so through the courts and law enforcement failed.

“And in the end, when there was no other option, she shoots him and kills him and claims it was self-defense,” O’Donnell said.

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