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

[Izzylizzy]

So DB said that he has to CK with AB first before buying the house that was behind the one she was residing in.
Maybe he wanted to buy it so AB and their daughter could live there?
I can see AB telling DB, "yes go ahead" then down the line file a court order after the purchase about the "restraining order"(?)

imo;
She is passive-aggressive too,

 

[Wishbone]

Lousy call by the judge. Just the defense trying to destroy DB's character and give their slant on his intentions.JMOO

 

[Weki]

This defendant was clearly filing all these restraining orders and complaints with LE to set up the defendant in the custody battle. When that didn’t work she killed him. It’s all so incredibly cynical and sociopathic. The state has to proceed gingerly so as not to alienate the female jurors in case any of them find this act by the defendant convincing. I’m assuming but maybe these two prosecutors are kinda sorta buying into the defendant’s manipulation a little bit.

A prosecutor should be disgusted that a defendant would use the justice system and family courts in this cynical fashion.

JMO

 

[Izzylizzy]

Hopefully other prosecutors are writing the closing argument.

 

[Weki]

I find it interesting that the victim was willing to abandon one daughter and so desperate to be close to another, new baby. Where was the 15 yo as he’s desperately trying to win this custody battle and moving to Florida and Maryland? I realize a teenager is more self-sufficient but a teen who just lost her mother so suddenly needs her father more than ever, no??

JMO

 

[nodamselindistress]

I just hope the jury is realizing that Def Atty is only presenting one-sided info.

 

[Wishbone]

That did not contribute one single thing to this case. What's wrong with the judge allowing debris like this testimony in?

 

[Izzylizzy]

So what if we wanted to buy a house behind where AB lived? I have heard of exes doing this all the time to make custody handoffs easier and make it easier on the children.

It turned out to be embarrassing for the defense when it was disclosed that DB said he has to talk to AB about it
.
Just keep confusing the jury with irrelevance.

Hopefully there's some sharp jurors who can look at the facts pertaining to the actual killing which is why she's charged with 2nd degree murder.

 

[Wishbone]

Why the recall on this guy.

 

[Wishbone]

Nobody is going anywhere near what actually happened when DB was murdered.

 

[Weki]

This judge seems way too lenient and is letting everything in. But it’s good for appeal. It will preserve the guilty verdict. Hopefully the jurors are sharp enough to see through this defendant. Anyone can make accusations and allegations against another. If that’s all it takes to get away with murder, that’s a scary state of affairs for our judicial system. JMO

 

[Dotta]

I find it interesting that the victim was willing to abandon one daughter and so desperate to be close to another, new baby. Where was the 15 yo as he’s desperately trying to win this custody battle and moving to Florida and Maryland? I realize a teenager is more self-sufficient but a teen who just lost her mother so suddenly needs her father more than ever, no??

JMO

It was never about the "new baby" IMO.

It was all about staying near the wife who seemed to be totally fed up with him.

Total obsession
with a baby as the means to this aim.

He didn't care about teen daughter's feelings when he married a much younger woman soon after previous wife's death.

Scary stuff

JMO

 

[Izzylizzy]

I find it interesting that the victim was willing to abandon one daughter and so desperate to be close to another, new baby. Where was the 15 yo as he’s desperately trying to win this custody battle and moving to Florida and Maryland? I realize a teenager is more self-sufficient but a teen who just lost her mother so suddenly needs her father more than ever, no??

JMO

Curious who was watching Eva when DB was galavanting after AB then planned on the Maryland move?
Where was Eva going to live and with who?
I can see why the prosecutor didn't touch that with Eva but the defense missed the opportunity trying to show that DB was so obsessed with AB that he was deserting his 15 yr old daughter.

Unless I missed any of that in Eva;s testimony?

 

[Izzylizzy]

It was never about the "new baby" IMO.

It was all about staying near the wife who seemed to be totally fed up with him.

Total obsession with a baby as the means to this aim.

He didn't care about teen daughter's feelings when he married a much younger woman soon after previous wife's death.

Scary stuff

JMO

Two danced their toxic dance until they couldn't no longer.

 

[Wishbone]

How about DB's ultimate trauma?

 

[Weki]

It was never about the "new baby" IMO.

It was all about staying near the wife who seemed to be totally fed up with him.

Total obsession with a baby as the means to this aim.

He didn't care about teen daughter's feelings when he married a much younger woman soon after previous wife's death.

Scary stuff

JMO

100%. Wife dies and he basically acts like “out with the old in with the new” including his 15yo daughter. His obsession above all else with this goofy 24 yo is mind boggling. At his age?? Ugh!

JMO

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

I find it interesting that the victim was willing to abandon one daughter and so desperate to be close to another, new baby. Where was the 15 yo as he’s desperately trying to win this custody battle and moving to Florida and Maryland? I realize a teenager is more self-sufficient but a teen who just lost her mother so suddenly needs her father more than ever, no??

JMO

Yes, and don’t necessarily disagree with that perspective. But IMO in some respects seems the now slain husband was having to ‘walk a razor’s edge’ with the defendant and the issue of their new daughter and his existing daughter?

Seems there was IIRC evidence that AB did not respond in the best way to the older daughter such as her having disassembled a shadow box the defendant had worked hard to create for her. And instead the elder daughter replaced some images in it with those of her late mother.

And the defendant seems to have snooped heavily in the now slain husband’s messaging including those with his previous wife. Was it ever shown exactly when the defendant located those messages in the timeline of events? That would be helpful to understanding.

And IMO while the defense is trying mightily to sully or dirty the slain victim - and this judge seems to be allowing it - there has not IIRC been any real evidence shown as to how the victim was having to try and avoid being shot dead with four shots basically to his side…… some might contend a defensive or avoiding posture perhaps and even an attempt to evade or flee? MOO

 

[Weki]

The tension between the new much younger wife and the 15yo is totally understandable and to be expected. The victim handled the transition incredibly poorly and selfishly. He was way outta line imo. And the 15yo had every right to be antagonistic with this immature, whiny 24yo “step-mother” who was just a few years older than her.

It seems to me the victim chose the defendant over his daughter. That’s tragic. And now he’s dead! Smh

JMO

 

[Linda7NJ]

I can't let this go. lol

Last night I listened again to prosecutor O'Donnell's opening statement.
She brought up the unfounded accusation made by AB that DB was poisoning her and her unborn child.
Why didn't she also tell the jury that AB's accusations against DB that he physically/sexually abused their daughter was also unfounded?
Those reprehensible false accusations should give more than pause to the jury when deciding whether to believe AB's claims that she was an abused wife who killed her husband in self-defense.
I don't recall hearing O'Connell bring up AB's false claims of this abuse to her daughter when she examined AB.

I think she leans towards histrionic personality disorder -
Obviously, he was abusive, manipulative, intimidating, controlling -
In her head, it was perfectly REASONABLE to leap to the worst possible conclusions.

Given his KNOWN history of violent propensity - I’m now leaning towards NOT GUILTY

A woman shouldn’t have to be beaten before defending herself.

 

[Weki]

The law says a woman or man has to be in imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to justify killing someone. I think all this psycho babble is meant to justify a hysterical woman who involved herself with a hysterical man and together they had a volatile, immature relationship. He was never physically abusive towards her by her own testimony. She’s guilty.

JMO