The curtains are closing on Ashley Benefield's case.
Four months after the former ballerina was found guilty of manslaughter for killing her estranged husband Doug Benefield in September 2020, she was sentenced Dec. 3 to 20 years in prison and 10 years of probation.
Circuit Court Judge Mathew Whyte said that although he believed Ashley—who said the killing was in self-defense—acted "under extreme duress" and showed remorse, she did not deserve a reduced sentence.
Following the sentencing of the case—dubbed the "Black Swan murder trial" after Natalie Portman's ballerina thriller film Black Swan—Doug's daughter Eva Benefield shared her thoughts on the outcome.
"My dad was the best man that I've ever known in my entire life," the 23-year-old, whose dad married Ashley nine months after the death of her mom Renee, said on the steps of the courthouse. "He will continue to hold that in my mind and our family's mind forever. I'm really content with the sentencing and the verdict. I waited so long to be able to speak to her face-to-face and I finally got that person. I hope prison serves her well."
Doug's cousin Tommy Benefield also shared that he disagreed with the judge's notion that Ashley, who has 30 days to appeal the judge's decision, showed remorse.
"I believe that she showed that she was traumatized or affected by killing him," he explained alongside Eva. "There's no doubt that would have shocked anyone if you've never done that in your life. I believe she was scared by what happened but not remorseful about the killing."
However, he emphasized that they are grateful for the outcome, adding, "We'll carry on from here to make sure she gets to mete out that sentence in prison."
In July, Ashley was previously charged with second-degree murder, but a jury convicted her of the "lesser included offense" of manslaughter. During her six-day trial, the 33-year-old testified that she feared for her life when she shot her husband during a confrontation with him.
Prosecutors disagreed with her testimony, claiming that the evidence from the day of the incident did not match her description. Instead, they argued that the couple's custody battle over their 6-year-old daughter Emerson, who Tom says is now in the custody of Ashley's mom Alicia, was a motive.
"This case is about a woman who, very early on in her pregnancy, decided she wanted to be a single mother," prosecutor Suzanne O'Donnell said during the opening statements. "Her husband and everything she did from that point on was to attain that goal and she would stop at nothing to attain that goal. When there was no other option, she shoots him and kills him and claims self-defense."