Ashley Benefield has been charged with shooting her estranged husband to death in 2021. As she awaits her trial later this month, the retired ballerina and Trump campaign worker has plenty of supporters to lean on and detractors to deal with.

“I want her to be free because I love her.”

Those were the heartbreaking words from Ashley’s 6-year-old daughter Emerson as she protested in support of her mother outside the Manatee County Courthouse in Bradenton, Florida, on Wednesday. She was joined by her grandmother on Ashley’s side.

“How horrible, to want to destroy a mother and daughter, who did not do what they said she did,” Ashley’s mother, Alicia Byers, told WWSB, Sarasota’s ABC affiliate. “How horrible.” 

Ashley’s mother and daughter were not alone in their protest. They were joined by a few dozen others who believe Ashley acted in self-defense.

“Ashley Benefield was doing what every American has a right to do, and that is defend her life in her own home,” protester Barbara Russell said, adding that the charges against Ashley were a “miscarriage of justice.”

Ashley is a 32-year-old mother of one and ex-ballerina who previously ran a troubled ballet company, that showcased plus-sized dancers, with her husband Douglas Benefield, 30 years her senior, whom she met on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The local newspaper, the Bradenton Herald, reports the couple had a history of domestic problems and were fighting for custody of their child when Douglas was shot.

The case, dubbed the “Black Swan” murder trial, in a nod to the dark, Oscar-winning film and Ms. Benefield’s dancing background, came to fruition after the events of Sept. 27, 2020, in Southwest Florida. On that day, Ashley said she was attacked by her husband before shooting him in self-defense. She then ran to a neighbor’s house for help where a man called 911. Douglas was eventually brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds to his right leg, right arm and right chest area, but he died later that night.

Douglas and Ashley had a history of splitting up and getting back together, even after Ashley accused Douglas of poisoning her tea. On the day Douglas died, he was helping Ashley back up her belongings to move to Maryland, where they were going to try to live together again, despite being in the midst of an ugly court custody dispute. Prosecutors contend Ashley had no intention of reconciling with Douglas and was tricking him into moving to Maryland because she’d run out of legal avenues in Florida to keep Douglas away from their daughter.

The defense says Ashley was a victim of her husband’s stalking and physical violence, and they tried to have the case dismissed based on self-defense at a Stand Your Ground hearing in June 2023. 

The Stand Your Ground law falls under the “justifiable use of force” category for Florida’s statutes. According to the official Florida legislature website, “a person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.” 

Ultimately, the defense’s efforts were unsuccessful and the motion was denied by Circuit Judge Matt Whyte. He said she was “not entitled to court-ordered immunity from criminal prosecution, as she was not justified in using deadly force” because the state showed that Douglas’ death was not “a singular act of necessary self-defense, but was instead the culmination of a lengthy, concerted effort.”

Prosecutors cite a law enforcement affidavit which refutes Ashley’s claims of self-defense. “Based on the entry wounds on Douglas, it does not appear that he was facing Ashley when she began shooting,” the affidavit alleges. “It also does not appear that Douglas had taken any kind of defensive or combative stance.”

Defense witnesses are expected to contest that finding and try to prove that Douglas was facing Ashley when she shot him. The defense is also going to point out how much physically larger and stronger he was than Ashley.

Prosecutors will also point out that, during Ashley’s and Douglas’ custody battle, the courts outright rejected as baseless her claims that Douglas was poisoning her tea. Ashley also claimed that he may have murdered his first wife when she died at age 56. Renee Benefield’s 2015 death had been ruled due to natural causes.

As Ashley awaits the start of her trial on July 22, plenty of people have been quick to share their thoughts on the defendant via social media.

“Ashley Benefield plotted and murdered her 58 year old husband Doug Benefield and instead claimed it was self-defense,” wrote @hardrocknick on Instagram. “A smart Palm Beach County, Florida judge denied her bullshit self-defense claim amid their nasty divorce trial.”

“That is what they all say of course! Same story every time!,” commented one X user under a CourtTV post explaining that “Ashley Benefield is claiming she was a victim of abuse and was defending herself when she shot and killed her husband, Douglas.”