Two notable Sarasota and Manatee public figures appeared in the gallery Thursday during the trial of Ashley Benefield , a former ballerina accused of killing her estranged husband in 2020.
New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran and New College General Counsel Bill Galvano sat behind the defendant’s table in the gallery during the afternoon of the third day of trial.
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Ashley Benefield, 32, is accused of shooting and killing her estranged husband, Doug Benefield, in September 2020. She was arrested a little more than a month after the shooting in November and charged with second-degree murder with a firearm.
In a case that has captured national attention, the former ballerina and Lakewood Ranch mother is claiming that she fired her gun in self-defense against Doug Benefield, whom she had married in 2016 following a whirlwind 13-day romance after the two met at a political event. Ashley Benefield alleges her estranged husband was a domestic violence abuser.