The jury returned a verdict after seven hours deliberating whether or not Ashley Benefield shot and killed her husband in self-defense, or as part of a calculated effort to remove him so she could be a single mother.

After the prosecution and defense presented vastly different stories behind the admitted shooting of her husband Doug Benefield, Ashley Benefield was led away in handcuffs late Tuesday as her trial concluded.

"The sound was as good as the sight," Doug's cousin Tommie Benefield told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune , of seeing Ashley taken into custody. After seven hours, the jury returned a guilty verdict.

Ashley was found guilty of manslaughter, a lesser charge than the second-degree murder charge the prosecution was seeking. Her defense was that she was acting in self-defense, but the jury clearly didn't buy it.

While her attorney attempted to have her out on bond until her sentencing, the state argued she has incentive to flee facing up to 30 years in prison. The judge ordered her held in custody until sentencing.

Doug's 23-year-old daughter Eva didn't buy Ashley's story of being a victim of domestic abuse, either, telling the media, "I apologize to all the women who have gone through domestic violence situations. I think what Ashley was doing was unfair to them. They deserve justice and I'm very happy that my dad got the justice he deserves."

Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O'Donnell, who tried the case against Ashley, said, "Domestic violence is absolutely a real problem. There are many, many women that are in horrendous situations."

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"Women, and sometimes men, that are in situations that are being abused and beaten on a regular basis," she continued. "People who feel like they cannot get out, no way to get out. This is not this defendant, and it never was."

Throughout the week-long trial, the prosecution painted 32-year-old Ashley as an opportunistic killer who murdered her husband so she could be a single parent after trying to deny him shared custody, but her defense presented a different picture.

The Defense's Case

Throughout this past week, Ashley's attorney Neil Taylor shared the story of a wife terrified of her husband after allegedly enduring many instances of emotional abuse. Ashley shot and killed Douglas on September 27, 2020.

Ashley herself took the stand on Friday and tearfully testified that while she had killed her husband, it was done in self-defense after he became physically abusive.

One witness, Bruce Ferris, a mental health professional specializing in domestic and family traumas, testified that Ashley's displayed behaviors fit the pattern of someone who's a victim of domestic abuse. He called them "techniques of compliance, not wanting to poke the bear."

Dr. Jason Quintal, who'd worked with the couple in the past, described Doug as "somebody who was domineering" and "super-controlling." A realtor, Vincent Vizzaccaro, testified that Doug had wanted to buy a house directly behind the one Ashley was living in during their separation.

Finally, a forensics expert, Michael Haag, took the stand and talked about bullet trajectories from the crime scene. He testified that Ashley had to have been moving during the shooting, which sits in stark contrast to the prosecution saying she shot her husband from behind.

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The Prosecution's Case

According to the prosecution, Ashley murdered her husband so she could be a single mother.

"This case is about a woman who very early on in her pregnancy decided she wanted to be a single mother," argued Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O'Donnell. "She would stop at nothing to obtain that goal."

They presented their own evidence about the shooting, as well. "Based on entry wounds on Douglas it does not appear that he was facing Ashley when she began shooting," the Manatee County Sheriff's Office said in an affidavit received by The New York Post .

"It also does not appear that Douglas had taken any kind of defensive or combative stance. He was not found to have any weapons on his person or near him," the affidavit continued.

It's conclusion: "Detectives found no evidence that she was acting in self-defense when she fired multiple shots at her husband."

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The Couple's History

Ashley and Douglas first met in 2016 at a GOP fundraiser in Palm Beach when she was 24 years old. A trained dancer, Ashley shared her aspirations to open her own ballet company. Two weeks after they met, the couple was married and he was funding her studio.

According to the prosecution, things took a turn when the money started to run out and Ashley's ballet company faltered. An ensuing divorce battle turned ugly with allegations of infidelity on both sides and abuse.

While they were only married for four years, Ashley filed allegations of abuse against Douglas multiple times, including a story that he'd shot a gun at the ceiling to "shut her up," that he'd kicked their dog unconscious, and that he'd even tried to poison her while she was pregnant.

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Throughout the trial, it was revealed that the couple was estranged when their daughter, now six, was born with Doug only find out Ashley had given birth when she filed a restraining order against him, per WTVT .

A judge previously found no evidence of abuse by Douglas in relation to these allegations, the NY Post reported. The prosecution argued that all of this was part of a calculated strategy by the defendant to gain sole custody of their child. And when that didn't work, she took even more extreme measures.

They enjoyed a period of reconciliation after that, per the outlet, until Ashley shot and killed her husband in September 2020.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages; Calls are confidential and toll-free.