Former Titans scout Blaise Taylor was sentenced Wednesday to consecutive life terms, meaning he will spend the rest of his life in prison twice over after being convicted of poisoning his girlfriend, Jade Benning, and their unborn child on July 1.
The sentencing came after more than 80 people sent in letters supporting Taylor’s character, an effort Nashville assistant district attorney Jan Norman addressed in court.
“Your honor, the defense just submitted 87 letters all speaking to Mr. Taylor’s character,” Norman said, via Alicia Patton of WKRN.com.
“They describe a man of honor, honesty, a man of great accomplishments and as someone who has faith in the Lord and was raised by a strong family. More than one of the authors of those letters actually stated he is someone they would want their own daughters to marry.
The person described in these character letters, the authors themselves, not one mentioned Jade Benning, not one of them mentioned baby Ivy, and not one single letter out of the 87 letters mentioned anything about what Blaise Taylor did.”
Taylor’s attorney, Letitia Quinones-Hollins, said the defense was not surprised by the ruling.
“We are extremely disappointed but not surprised by the harsh sentence,” Quinones-Hollins said. “This was a flawed trial of a tenuous case, and we will appeal and look forward to doing so.”
At this point, an appeal is Taylor’s only real path forward. He can either try to get a new trial or seek to have the charges wiped out altogether, or remain in prison for the rest of his life.
For now, Tennessee’s position stands: Taylor committed murder of his girlfriend and their child, and did so in a particularly heinous way. It will be up to Quinones-Hollins to show that mistakes were made at trial severe enough to change that outcome.
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LSUs defensive line is still sorting itself out, with a group that includes multiple transfers and freshmen, so the path for Tuihalamaka is hardly fixed. For now, the role looks more like depth and support than a full-time defensive assignment, but that can change quickly over the course of a season as the Tigers keep reshaping their front. [Read more 🡒]