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

[Izzylizzy]

Help again...please!
I can't find one thing online about the jury other then it was seated.
I've gotten used to jury #1 and a description by the media then on to all the other jurors, like age, profession locations, kids or no kids etc.

All I've heard here is that there are 5 women on the jury.
The jury is made up of 6 with 3 alternates .
Is the 6th juror a man or out of the 9 picked 5 are women and 4 are men.

Does anyone know about the jury and if it was posted I missed it.

 

[Weki]

Oh the jury is made up of 6?! I didn’t know that. I assumed the usual 12. 5 women is good for the state when the defendant is female. That’s why she’s playing down her looks and trying to look homely. State was being slick showing that model photo of her. Women can see through other women much easier than men can imo.

JMO

 

[Izzylizzy]

Anyone else believe that "mutual abuse" relationships exist?

 

[Izzylizzy]

Oh the jury is made up of 6?! I didn’t know that. I assumed the usual 12. 5 women is good for the state when the defendant is female. That’s why she’s playing down her looks and trying to look homely. State was being slick showing that model photo of her. Women can see through other women much easier than men can imo.

JMO

When the "me-too" cases hit the courts high profile male defendants began hiring female defense lawyers.
It didn't work out well.

“Florida does what the Constitution forbids because of us,” Gorsuch wrote. Most criminal trials require a 12-person jury. But in Florida and five other states (Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts and Utah), a six-person jury can be used. In Florida, all non-death penalty criminal trials use six-person juries.May 28, 2024

SCOTUS rejects review of Florida case challenging 6-person ...​

Florida Politics

 

[Izzylizzy]

Ck. out "The Lawyer You know".
"Defendant Takes The Stand"

Peter is going through AB"s testimony and will be doing a live video on the trial tomorrow.

Going to watch it now but posted because I found his other video on her very good.

Highly recommended.
I like it that Peter addresses points in AB's testimony and the different ways jurors can interpret it.

My favorites is when a fan of his commented why would she go back after she accused DB of abusing their daughter.
Peter said that is exactly what jurors will be asking.

IMO: That makes AB an enabler of a sexual predator leaving her daughter as the victim.
That holds true whether DB did abuse their daughter or not.

 

[MTW2011]

Unless I missed it why wasn't AB asked why would she go back with a man who she believed physically and sexually abused their daughter?

Potentially an unpopular opinion but I think the prosecutor didn’t ask that because she was too busy trying to get across the whole “you weren’t ever physically harmed”, and “the Judge didn’t find that he physically hurt you, is that correct?” (Essentially)

Kinda disappointing, I’m not saying AB isn’t a victim, but I hope that prosecutor doesn’t treat abuse victims (who she actually believes) in the same way. There was a clear tone of abuse must be physical or else it’s not real, which is insulting to all those who’ve been just as harmed from mental and emotional abuse. JMOO though.

 

[Izzylizzy]

I get worse scratches and scrapes in the garden almost every week.

I found all the photos that AB and her defense claim came from DB.
Besides just seeing the dark circles around AB's eyes that show up in other photos of hers when she has no make-up on and the kind of scratches on her side could even come from one's own nails just scratching.
I've had that happen to me.

 

[Weki]

In order for a self-defense claim to be legitimate you would have to be in imminent threat of death or great bodily harm. A battered woman would have to have the state of mind that her life is in danger or that she will be seriously physically injured unless she shoots and defends herself. Those questions by the prosecutor are appropriate imo. I think the state did a good job of not getting into the weeds with the defendant because there’s enough there that she may have been emotionally or psychologically in a controlling relationship. Just the fact that she was 24 and he had 30 years on her is enough for a controlling dynamic for me. And they don’t want to alienate any female jurors esp by pretending like that’s not a thing.

HOWEVER, emotional or psych abuse is not a justification for killing someone.

JMO

 

[Izzylizzy]

Potentially an unpopular opinion but I think the prosecutor didn’t ask that because she was too busy trying to get across the whole “you weren’t ever physically harmed”, and “the Judge didn’t find that he physically hurt you, is that correct?” (Essentially)

Kinda disappointing, I’m not saying AB isn’t a victim, but I hope that prosecutor doesn’t treat abuse victims (who she actually believes) in the same way. There was a clear tone of abuse must be physical or else it’s not real, which is insulting to all those who’ve been just as harmed from mental and emotional abuse. JMOO though.

Each case is so different but one would think that prosecutors who are familiar with abuse victims do develop some kind of radar.
Yet:
Awhile back I had scanned a case of a young girl who was sex trafficked for years and eventually killed her abuser and was convicted of killing him and given years in prison.
I know there was a public uproar and don't know what happened.
Is it a crap shoot with what prosecutor prosecutes what case?

What I gather from this defense is that anything and everything AB did or didn't do is because she was abused therefore shouldn't be held responsible and convicted of killing her so-called abuser.

imo: There does come a point where certain self-described victims need to take some responsibility for perpetuating what they considered an abusive relationship which ends in death.
AB is one of them,

 

[Izzylizzy]

In order for a self-defense claim to be legitimate you would have to be in imminent threat of death or great bodily harm. A battered woman would have to have the state of mind that her life is in danger or that she will be seriously physically injured unless she shoots and defends herself. Those questions by the prosecutor are appropriate imo. I think the state did a good job of not getting into the weeds with the defendant because there’s enough there that she may have been emotionally or psychologically in a controlling relationship. Just the fact that she was 24 and he had 30 years on her is enough for a controlling dynamic for me. And they don’t want to alienate any female jurors esp by pretending like that’s not a thing.

HOWEVER, emotional or psych abuse is not a justification for killing someone.

JMO

Meanwhile DB's cousin said AB seduced DB and then took him for all his money to fulfill her ballet company dream and the rest is history.
IMO:
In the beginning it's fair to say each one got what they wanted.

 

[Weki]

Yea this seems to be a story as old as time. Pretty young woman with a much older man. He wanted a pretty young thing to pump up his ego and she wanted financial security. As someone else said earlier today, it only makes sense that she lost interest if he didn’t hold up his end with the finances. He being a scammer type likely embellished and his mouth wrote checks his bank account couldn’t cash. At 24 with no job and material assets, a man with a nice house who talks a big game can fool you into thinking he’s rich. Once she saw the tense situation with the step-daughter and no real wealth, she lost interest.

JMO

 

[loreet]

All IMO
This case is painful for me to watch as a former victim of DV. AB really annoys me. I do not find her believable in her presentation as a timid mouse. Her behavior in court at the defense table does not seem genuine and her testimony seems rehearsed and phony to me. BUT I don’t know if I was on the jury that there has been enough hard evidence to convict her of murder either. The evidence could be interpreted both ways, either favorable to the prosecution or defense.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Yea this seems to be a story as old as time. Pretty young woman with a much older man. He wanted a pretty young thing to pump up his ego and she wanted financial security. As someone else said earlier today, it only makes sense that she lost interest if he didn’t hold up his end with the finances. He being a scammer type likely embellished and his mouth wrote checks his bank account couldn’t cash. At 24 with no job and material assets, a man with a nice house who talks a big game can fool you into thinking he’s rich. Once she saw the tense situation with the step-daughter and no real wealth, she lost interest.

JMO

The icing on the cake you just baked is the much younger woman making sure to have a child with the much older wealthy guy.
This works for many women as insurance for getting substantial child support payments and sometimes alimony for years if there's a divorce.

 

[Izzylizzy]

All IMO
This case is painful for me to watch as a former victim of DV. AB really annoys me. I do not find her believable in her presentation as a timid mouse. Her behavior in court at the defense table does not seem genuine and her testimony seems rehearsed and phony to me. BUT I don’t know if I was on the jury that there has been enough hard evidence to convict her of murder either. The evidence could be interpreted both ways, either favorable to the prosecution or defense

My hope is that one of the main things the jury discusses is if DB was coming after her to kill her how did she have enough time to run from the front door that he was blocking, get to her room and retrieve her gun from a storage bin before he entered the room?
To me this makes no sense.
One possibility I see as having happened is that he did follow her but not at a speed indicating that he was in a fit of rage.
He followed her and when he entered the bedroom saw her pointing the gun at him and he did a stupid ninja-like dance kind of indicating that he didn't take her seriously.
She also didn't have any bruises that showed someone hit her face with force or even hit her at all.
She couldn't even remember how he hit her.
If I was on her jury I would have so many questions for discussion.

 

[Weki]

The icing on the cake you just baked is the much younger woman making sure to have a child with the much older wealthy guy.
This works for many women as insurance for getting substantial child support payments and sometimes alimony for years if there's a divorce.

Yeah I think we forget that she was 24-25 around this time period. She was being impetuous and making dumb decisions. Clearly she’s not someone built for hard work. She wanted the “soft life” as the kids say. She was living some fantasy with him for a short while until real life came knocking in the form of a grieving 15 yo, a needy and phony 54 yo, and a budget.

No private planes and jobs at the White House to look forward to. Doug was her plan b and he turned out to be a phony. She was having a tantrum. She already had someone else lined up. He was just a nuisance.

JMO

 

[Dotta]

My prediction is
that the defendant will be acquitted
or the trial will end with the hung Jury.

There is reasonable doubt IMO.

The victim was a man with evident and serious anger issues
(which was proved during the trial).

Self defence seems plausible.

Well, time will tell.

But it is My Opinion.