00:00:00
this weekend 48 Hours has new information from the so-called Black Swan trial that made national headlines
00:00:06
Ashley Benfield is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of manslaughter she spoke publicly for the first time
00:00:12
about the night she killed her aranged husband Jim axat reports for special 2-hour edition of 48
00:00:19
hours in a Florida courtroom this summer Ashley Benfield told jurors about how she fell in love with the man she
00:00:26
eventually would be charged with killing Doug benefit he was funny uh very smart Charming um we just instantly
00:00:38
clicked she was a former ballerina and swimsuit model when they met at a political event Doug was 30 years older
00:00:46
they married just 13 days later but soon Ashley says she began seeing another side of Doug she told jurors he once
00:00:56
fired a gun inside their home he shut off hole in the ceiling in the kitchen over time Ashley said she came
00:01:05
to suspect Doug also tried to poison her while she was pregnant with a gift of tea when I opened it there was an
00:01:15
overwhelming smell like a real strong chemical smell and I got like an instant headache but according to a detective it
00:01:24
was determined that what was in the package was just tea until the trial Ashley had never spoken publicly about
00:01:32
the night she shot and killed Doug she said it began with an argument and he started screaming at me she said Doug
00:01:41
hit her in the face and she grabbed her gun I held the gun like in front of me and I I said
00:01:50
stop he started coming towards me and then he lunged at me and I started pulling the
00:01:58
trigger but prosecutor suzan O'Donnell said Ashley had a motive that night this was a custody battle that this mother
00:02:08
was going to win at all costs and the cost was the life of Doug Benfield and that is
00:02:17
murder Jim act joins us right now Jim good morning good morning whoa I'll tell you what this is a fascinating story
00:02:26
because we're not talking about what happened that there's no dispute there Ashley Benfield shot and killed her
00:02:34
husband it's all about why why yeah now she says she was really worried he was assaulting her and it was self-defense
00:02:42
prosecution says Ashley and Doug never really got along they they met and married after 13 days I was just going
00:02:50
to say Jim that's the thing that stands out to me 13 days you haven't even spent
00:02:53
the holidays together it's not the 30-y year age difference it's the 13 Days yeah that's what got me more than
00:02:58
anything3 days split 9 months later and so the theory from the prosecution was that Ashley wanted to raise their
00:03:05
daughter alone and wanted Doug out of the picture so they're pointing to the motive that's right that's what this
00:03:11
whole trial is all about which you will see in detail tomorrow and isn't it just
00:03:15
her word I mean how do you once they once they split right and and once they split and you realize there were all
00:03:22
these troubles the allegations about who did what to whom it we'll detail it all
00:03:26
tomorrow night it is a crazy story oh man all right Jim thank you you can see Jim's report the case of the Black Swan
00:03:33
in a special two-part 48 hours tomorrow night starting at 98 Central here on CBS
00:03:38
and streaming on Paramount Plus