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

[Dotta]

It would be nice to know what happened to the Mt Pleasant house. I assume the same house Doug owned with Renee? He moved to FL after the ballet company cratered as far as I know by 2018. He wanted to be there when his daughter was born but AB decided that she didn't want that and she did not even want the child to have his last name, so she used her Gandfather's name.

That she used her Grandfather's name for the child
says it all about this "relationship".

Haste (in getting married)
Makes waste.

JMO

 

[Linda7NJ]

IMO the hits keep coming from defense counsel…..

The nerve of this defense attorney. I suspect the judge is required by law to make this disclosure to the defendant. Amazing.

And IMO seems a telegraph that defense has already clearly told her not to testify. And is worried she might change her mind? IANAL. MOO

Agree.shes so manipulative and thinks so much of herself - he’s gonna have to duct tape her to that chair to keep her from testifying- IMO

 

[Weki]

My mistake - I thought he was still with Eva in Mount Pleasant at that time and drove down from there.

Regardless, still might have been a setup with the intent to kill DB and AB having no intention of moving to
Maryland.

We know she likes to jurisdiction shop. The move from Charleston to Florida then to Maryland seems sinister in hindsight. Why did she initiate reconciliation to get him to move to Florida when she had no intention of reconciling? Did she think the Stand Your Ground law would help her get away with this? She did have a SYG hearing and lost by the way. She’s delusional and conspiratorial type so it doesn’t seem far-fetched she would think this way. Highly suspect. JMO

 

[nodamselindistress]

I just wish she would use the concealer and make up and blowouts and nice outfits like she did in the stand your ground hearing.

 

[Wishbone]

I just wish she would use the concealer and make up and blowouts and nice outfits like she did in the stand your ground hearing.

Maybe fix her eyebrows as well, fill in with a little eyebrow pencil.

 

[nodamselindistress]

Maybe fix her eyebrows as well, fill in with a little eyebrow pencil.

Some lip gloss too. And please get rid of those gray scragglers on top of your head.

 

[Weki]

Yeah at first I thought she was in jail but she’s been out this whole time. Her whole get up feels so forced and manipulative. Those grey stragglers are purposely being shown by parting her hair in the middle. Bags under her eyes. She’s obviously worked to maintain her svelte figure though! But can’t color her hair and wear a little make up/concealer?? JMO

 

[nodamselindistress]

totally fake just like her relationship with Doug.

 

[Snoopster]

Sorry...very belated as I still haven't caught up on this case, but in the defense opening he describes exactly what supposedly happened at the time of the shooting when the only people at the scene were Doug and Ashley. Doesn't this mean that Ashley would have to take the stand to corroborate this story? He eluded to a swollen face and a scratch on the side of her body. Is that the only evidence defense is going to produce to support the story?

 

[Sustained]

It would be nice to know what happened to the Mt Pleasant house. I assume the same house Doug owned with Renee? He moved to FL after the ballet company cratered as far as I know by 2018. He wanted to be there when his daughter was born but AB decided that she didn't want that and she did not even want the child to have his last name, so she used her Gandfather's name.

According to Charleston county real estate records, the Mount Pleasant house was sold in Jan '23 by David Benefield as representative to Doug's estate. I believe it was purchased by Doug & Renee in 2005.

 

[Derph]

We know she likes to jurisdiction shop. The move from Charleston to Florida then to Maryland seems sinister in hindsight. Why did she initiate reconciliation to get him to move to Florida when she had no intention of reconciling? Did she think the Stand Your Ground law would help her get away with this? She did have a SYG hearing and lost by the way. She’s delusional and conspiratorial type so it doesn’t seem far-fetched she would think this way. Highly suspect. JMO

Just FYI there's stand your ground here in Charleston.

 

[Kittybunny]

DBM…too tired.

 

[Seni]

Atty Taylor is such a jerk. ImO. Judge has had huge patience with him. Defence has not presented evidence correctly. We wil see them come back to that.

Taylor reminds me of Lally in Karen's case. Why didnt they let second attorney intervene?

 

[Soulmagent]

I do not know if this has been talked about on the thread or not ..because ,honestly , I kinda fell into the trial on tv.
So ..a journalist ,hired a lawyer to send a letter to court?
Should we have a conversation , or did you guys have it already and I just decided it was worth a Nickle?
HMB

 

[Soulmagent]

LEO reading text exchanges into evidence is the most excruciating testimony. They seem to never be able to read smoothly and in an easy to follow pattern. With the time stamps, the emojis and spelling errors it’s always a mess!

Anyway, the text exchanges were vacuous, unsurprisingly. But they show her ability to play act going from hysterical demands for him to be arrested in court to being all sweet and friendly with him. She’s not credible and she’s guilty. Why in the world would you be around someone you claim poisoned you and your baby??? It’s absolute bs. I’m behind, catching up at the ME testimony now.

JMO

By design .
They may even exarate your errors on purpose to create A sense of reliance on the system . An make us feel we have to dump more money to teach our kids to comply correctly .
( i dont even know where that come from ,PMS ,most likely.)

 

[Weki]

Just FYI there's stand your ground here in Charleston.

I really just don’t buy her pregnancy sickness to the extent that she claimed. There’s something sinister about this woman and she seems to be very calculating. I feel like she went to Florida and wanted him to come there for a reason. Maybe she thought SYG law in Florida is more lenient. I bet she had studied self-defense laws prior to the shooting. Whats the name of that old guy who was in LE who shot and killed someone bc he threw popcorn/a phone at him after he had provoked him? He got off. That was Florida! She may have thought Florida jurors are more ‘Wild Wild West.’

JMO

 

[Weki]

So Taylor said he has a whole lotta witnesses lined up and he may need 2 whole days to get through them all! Haha! I just don’t believe him. He also desperately seemed to want a day off today - a “vacation.” He seemed to want to delay starting his case. I expect objections to nearly every question on direct during the defense case.

He also had an ex-parte conversation and judge told him state had the right to be heard on the topic so he dropped whatever the issue was. This defense is all about playing gotcha games. Seems desperate to me.

Is he going to have some psych expert come in and tell us she was a battered woman? On what basis? A psych can’t bring in the victim’s prior bad acts I don’t think. The defendant would have to get up there and say it to explain her state of mind.
JMO

 

[Dre]

I’m brand new to this case, have only been following since the beginning of trial this week.
I find that the prosecution has not done a great job presenting their case- I would not be surprised if this is a hung jury.

I do believe that shooting a gun into the ceiling of the same room as your spouse “to get them to shut up” is indeed domestic violence and would put me on edge endlessly around said person. Throwing a loaded gun at someone as well..

I’ve heard from other watchers of the trial that she is very manipulative and conniving, that multiple pieces of evidence exist that there was a plan… but it’s on prosecutors to draw the dotted lines, not watchers who have been researching and watching all the hearings.

JMO!