A Manatee County judge will call jurors back into the courthouse for interviews that could lead to a new murder trial for convicted ex-ballerina Ashley Benefield.
Circuit Court Judge Matt Whyte granted a motion by Benefield's defense team Monday to allow juror interviews after accusations that one juror concealed a history of domestic violence and another snuck a phone into deliberations.
Benefield, 32, and her attorney Neil Taylor filed several legal motions after a jury found her guilty of manslaughter for shooting her husband, 58-year-old Doug Benefield. The case attracted national headlines and widespread media attention in July.
Among the motions filed by the defense was a request for a new trial and a request to interview jurors. While Whyte didn't discuss the possibility of a new trial on Monday, he did decide there was enough evidence presented by the defense to grant their request to interview jurors about possible misconduct. Whyte acknowledged the rarity of such interviews.
"There's no doubt this is an extreme step, but at this point, there is sufficient evidence in front of me to grant the request for the interviews," Whyte said.
Whyte said the court will subpoena the six jurors who deliberated on the case and he will interview them with the state and defense present. In order to encourage candid answers from the jurors, the proceedings will not be open to the public, Whyte said.
The interviews will seek more information about juror misconduct claims raised by the defense.
In one of these allegations, the defense says a juror failed to disclose two items of personal history relevant to the case. First, the defense alleged that the juror was a past victim of domestic battery. Second, the defense alleged that the juror's ex-husband had sought multiple restraining orders against her on behalf of himself and their child.
Taylor argued these domestic violence allegations against the juror "mirror key elements in the state's case," as he said Ashley Benefield filed for several similar injunctions against her husband.
"Given the parallels" between the juror's alleged concealed history and "the facts of this case," Taylor wrote he would have asked to remove the juror if this information been disclosed, according to court records.
The defense said the juror failed to disclose the items during a questionnaire and again during jury selection. Taylor argued Monday that this was "misconduct proven beyond any doubt."
A second allegation of juror misconduct was raised before Judge Whyte Monday.
Ashley Benefield's defense team pointed to comments made by a YouTube user that suggest a juror may have smuggled a cell phone into the jury room and used it while discussing the case with other jurors. If true, that would violate the court's instruction and Florida law, which prohibits unauthorized materials in the jury room.
Taylor based these allegations on comments made by a YouTube user named "That-Hoodie Guy," which he said contained "real-time information that could only have originated from within the jury room."
"Verdict incoming," the YouTube user wrote at 10:20 p.m. according to court records. "My sister snuck a flip phone in, she text me 5-1 guilty may compromise on manslaughter," he wrote a few minutes later.
About 10 minutes later, the jury returned with a verdict of manslaughter with a firearm, according to court records.
The state, however, argued that less credibility should be given to these comments made by an anonymous source.
"There was no indication that this was from inside the jury room," said Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O'Donnell. "There's no indication that it was anything other than somebody posting on social media trying to get attention. For us to inconvenience these six jurors in this matter, in this contentious case, in this way, it's quite frankly not appropriate."
But the newest member of Benefield's defense team, appellate attorney William Ponall, argued that calling back the jurors for questioning should not be a "close call."
"The state raises a lot of good questions about what we don't know, and what I would suggest is they've actually proved the point," Ponall said. "We don't know a lot of information and that gives us a reason to interview the jurors."
Jury misconduct was also a key component in Benefield's motion for a new murder trial, which Whyte said would be addressed depending on any new information that comes out of the juror interviews.
The juror interviews will be scheduled at a later date.
Benefield is set to be sentenced for manslaughter on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 8:30 a.m., according to court records. According to Florida law, she faces at least 11.5 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years.