A Nashville jury has convicted former Tennessee Titans scout and Arkansas State football player Blaise Taylor in the poisoning death of his pregnant girlfriend, Jade Benning, and the death of their unborn child.
Taylor was found guilty Wednesday on one count of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree felony murder. The panel took just over two hours to reach its verdict, then unanimously sentenced him to life in prison. Under that sentence, he must serve at least 51 years before he can be considered for parole.
Prosecutors said Taylor, 30, deliberately poisoned Benning on Feb. 25, 2023, by putting a fatal dose of cocaine into her drink. Benning was five months pregnant, according to police. They argued Taylor did not want her to keep the baby, while Benning refused to have an abortion.
Benning died on March 6, her 25th birthday, from acute cocaine poisoning. The fetus died two days earlier, on Feb.
- She never got the chance to speak with investigators before she died.
Testimony at trial included a call Benning made to a friend, Nijaiha Deshay Jackson, the night of the poisoning. Jackson said Benning was repeatedly accusing Taylor of tampering with her drink and telling her he was frightening her.
“‘I knew my drink tasted funny. I know you put something in my drink because I can’t even walk,’” Jackson recalled Benning saying. “She said, ‘You did this so something could happen to the baby.’”
Taylor had pleaded not guilty.
After the conviction, Taylor’s attorney Joshua Brand urged the jury to consider mercy.
“You don’t have to give him life without the possibility of parole,” Brand said. “… You can give him the opportunity to try for rehabilitation.
You can give him the opportunity to work hard in prison. He’s not going anywhere.”
Brand was not available for comment.
Before his arrest, Taylor had built a football résumé that included serving as a captain and first-team All-Sun Belt defender at Arkansas State from 2014 through 2017. He later worked in the Titans’ scouting department until 2023, then moved to Utah State as a senior defensive analyst. After one year there, he took a job as a defensive analyst at Texas A&M, but was arrested less than a week after that hiring was first reported.
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