VERDICT WATCH FL - Doug Benefield, 58, shot and killed by estranged wife, Manatee County, 27 Sept 2020

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I don't think AB has a very good attorney...in fact he gets things wrong more often than not. I see her correcting him and they do not seem to have a very good rapport at all. Is he public defender?
 
I might have missed it, but did i not hear that AB had ALL her guns with safety locks or cases so as her daughter couldn't get to them? There is NO WAY you can IN A SECOND put in a code and unlock a gun lock as fast as this happened. Even with JA, she supposedly just pulled it off a top shelf, with NO lock on it. So was the gun laying in a spot that her daughter could have picked up at any time?
 
turaj said:
Eva his daughter with Renee has had quite the life. Mother dead when she is just a teen apparently with no long illness etc. and within less than one year Dad is taken with this model/ballerina more close to her age than her dad's. He really does not discuss much of anything with her...marries his young ballerina and as I read it she was not even at the wedding? This guy really made some mistakes. Not sure if this was self defense at this point but what a disaster.
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I read that Rene had 2 sons from a previous marriage but have heard nothing about them or comments from them.
They're listed in Renee's obituary.
 
Izzylizzy said:
Is this trial set up by the judges rulings that the state isn't permitted to ask AB any "why didn't you do this"?

IMO:
If not then the state missed crucial opportunities to put seeds in the jurors head.

"why didn't you lock the bedroom door behind you when you feared DB was coming after you to kill you"?

"why didn't you run for the other exist in the house to get outside and run for help knowing that your gun would first have to be retrieved from your storage bin and that would take time"?
"Time that you somehow assumed you had before DB caught up with you?"

Most likely AB would have answered that she couldn't think because she feared for her life and believed DB was going to kill her and she needed her gun.
Meanwhile she had no problem thinking that and carrying it through with it ending in her killing DB.
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Good points -- someone more familiar with the case than I can answer but there do seem to be distinct no-go areas all through this testimony from both sides.

It's a bit like watching an edited version without the captions that explain: "Whilst you were away, dear viewer, here's all the rest of the things that we now know happened on and before that fateful day..."

Or those articles that inevitably follow trials in NZ, UK and Canada with titles like "All the bombshell evidence we weren't allowed to see in the XYZ proceedings..."

(Note: I'm a Brit who lives and works between Canada and the UK..)
 
Kakidoll said:
I might have missed it, but did i not hear that AB had ALL her guns with safety locks or cases so as her daughter couldn't get to them? There is NO WAY you can IN A SECOND put in a code and unlock a gun lock as fast as this happened. Even with JA, she supposedly just pulled it off a top shelf, with NO lock on it. So was the gun laying in a spot that her daughter could have picked up at any time?
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I thought about the gun being in a place that her daughter had access to when she said it was in her storage bin from when she emptied drawers and a night table drawer came to mind.

I hadn't even thought of your comments and questions about the gun so thank you.

What the hell is going on with the state?
Can they not ask AB these crucial questions?
 
scapa said:
Good points -- someone more familiar with the case than I can answer but there do seem to be distinct no-go areas all through this testimony from both sides.

It's a bit like watching an edited version without the captions that explain: "Whilst you were away, dear viewer, here's all the rest of the things that we now know happened on and before that fateful day..."

Or those articles that inevitably follow trials in NZ, UK and Canada with titles like "All the bombshell evidence we weren't allowed to see in the XYZ proceedings..."

(Note: I'm a Brit who lives and works between Canada and the UK..)
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Laughing at and loving your comments.
 
Again doing a bit of googling for the "rest of the story" AB was quite the gun lover...carrying with her routinely and a real NRA advocate. Mother seems to be proud of their proficiency with guns.
 
turaj said:
Again doing a bit of googling for the "rest of the story" AB was quite the gun lover...carrying with her routinely and a real NRA advocate. Mother seems to be proud of their proficiency with guns.
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Yep. AB was a gun toting gal who had hers tucked in her bra the night she met DB at Dr. Ben Carson's home for a 2016 Trump fundraiser.
It's been reported that at some point during the event AB, DB and and another male went outside and AB & DB did an "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
A match made in Evangelical heaven for the religious AB who was the Evangelical out reach person for the 2016 campaign to get Evangelical voters.

It's one of those "you can't make this *advertiser censored* up" love stories.
 
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I guess I’m confused about what you all feel was left out. I think the reason defense didn’t get into a lot of detail about AB and the victim is to avoid getting into their political affiliation. The ballet school stuff is not relevant. As for the state, all they need to establish is that it wasn’t self-defense. None of the background stuff written about in the VF article is relevant. What else is missing?

I do feel like the state’s case went by fast! But I think they are smart not to get into vilification of the defendant territory. Because she may come off sympathetic to some jurors as I commented before.

JMO
 
Weki said:
I guess I’m confused about what you all feel was left out. I think the reason defense didn’t get into a lot of detail about AB and the victim is to avoid getting into their political affiliation. The ballet school stuff is not relevant. As for the state, all they need to establish is that it wasn’t self-defense. None of the background stuff written about in the VF article is relevant. What else is missing?

I do feel like the state’s case went by fast! But I think they are smart not to get into vilification of the defendant territory. Because she may come off sympathetic to some jurors as I commented before.

JMO
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We'll see at closing if the state's strategy continues to follow their courtroom strategy or they come out with a salvo of accusations discrediting AB's defense of being an abused wife who killed her husband before she believed he would kill her.

I don't know how the state sees themselves at this point in the trial or if they even can, but if they actually believe that they're losing the jury big time then they should do a "no holes barred" at closing.

This is one case that I wouldn't want to be a juror on.
Other cases I've followed her I would have loved to.
 
Weki said:
I guess I’m confused about what you all feel was left out. I think the reason defense didn’t get into a lot of detail about AB and the victim is to avoid getting into their political affiliation. The ballet school stuff is not relevant. As for the state, all they need to establish is that it wasn’t self-defense. None of the background stuff written about in the VF article is relevant. What else is missing?

I do feel like the state’s case went by fast! But I think they are smart not to get into vilification of the defendant territory. Because she may come off sympathetic to some jurors as I commented before.

JMO
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I disagree and see the backstory of their relationship as highly relevant and the more the jurors can know the better.
 
Izzylizzy said:
I disagree and see the backstory of their relationship as highly relevant and the more the jurors can know the better.
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So much has been suppressed for AB's benefit that Doug really has no voice in this mess. He's dead and can't even defend himself properly through the state's attorneys. I just watched a video by the LT that talked to AB's atty on the phone at the crime scene and he couldn't even testify about it. smh.
 
What I see as an observer of this tragedy:

- husband 30 years older than a wife
Wife - young& beautiful seems to be a "trophy wife"

- they got married after 2 weeks of "dating"
Love-bombing at its worst

- husband had been married twice before

- Previous wife who died 9 months before accused him of DV

- husband had a teen daughter who was completely oblivious that Dad got married again

- husband tortured animals
(dog hit unconscious,
cat thrown down the stairs)

- husband fired a gun in the kitchen with wife inside

- husband threw
a loaded gun at wife / made a hole in the wall during rage attack

- during divorce proceedings husband spied on the wife

- one night he was in the yard of the house she was living and spying on her

- husband hit her with a full, heavy box

- husband hit her in the face/head

Did I miss anything? :rolleyes:

Well, ladies and gentlemen
I see a woman mentally/psychologically abused for a long time and on every level.
Manipulated, intimidated, fearful.

A woman fearing escalation,
fearing for her safety.

And fearing for the safety of her young daughter.

And the last thing
mind-blowing for me:
I also see a lot of misogyny :(

JMO
 
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Wishbone said:
Her mother put the lawyer on the phone with LE while they were all at the crime scene before they even took AB for an interview at the PD.
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Omg did not know this. I did not watch the mother or neighbours testimony in full. It was on but I was working Need to rewatch.
Thanks
 
dyannaON said:
Omg did not know this. I did not watch the mother or neighbours testimony in full. It was on but I was work. Need to rewatch.
Thanks
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It's not in the court testimony. It's in an article. I also posted about the LT on scene at the murder that wasn't allowed to discuss talking with AB's lawyer while still at the house.

snipped
While Ashley made no statements to sheriff deputies, her mother and her lawyer Faith Brown did.

www.cbsnews.com

Is Ashley Benefield the real-life "Black Swan"?

Former ballerina kills her husband, claiming self-defense
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
 
Oh it was the divorce atty that mom called at the scene? I’m sure she advised Ashley to not say anything. The only smart thing this defendant did. I feel like I heard one of the LE witnesses testify to this but it was quick and they didn’t dwell on it. I’m sure the state doesn’t want to comment on her right to silence. Making a big deal of her talking to an atty gets into that dangerous territory for the state. JMO
 
turaj said:
I don't think AB has a very good attorney...in fact he gets things wrong more often than not. I see her correcting him and they do not seem to have a very good rapport at all. Is he public defender?
Click to expand...
I can’t decide if he’s incompetent or if he’s actively trying to deceive the jury/play gotcha with the state. It all seems desperate. JMO
 
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