A Nashville jury has convicted former Tennessee Titans scout and ex-Arkansas State defensive back Blaise Taylor in the death of his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child.
The verdict came Wednesday after jurors spent just over two hours deliberating. Taylor, 30, had pleaded not guilty.
The jury found him guilty on one count of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree felony murder, then unanimously sentenced him to life in prison. He must serve at least 51 years before he can be considered for parole.
Prosecutors said Taylor poisoned Jade Benning on Feb. 25, 2023, by mixing a fatal dose of cocaine into her drink. Benning was five months pregnant at the time, and prosecutors argued Taylor did not want her to have the baby, while Benning refused to have an abortion.
Benning died on March 6, her 25th birthday, from acute cocaine poisoning. The unborn fetus died two days after the poisoning, on Feb.
- Benning was never able to speak with investigators before she died.
Testimony at trial included a call Benning made to her friend Nijaiha Deshay Jackson the night she was poisoned. Jackson said Benning told her repeatedly that Taylor had put something in her drink and that 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.’”
After the conviction, Taylor’s attorney, Joshua Brand, urged the jury to be lenient.
“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.
Taylor played defensive back at Arkansas State from 2014 through 2017, where he was a team captain and a first-team All-Sun Belt defender. He later worked in the Titans’ scouting department until 2023, then left to become a senior defensive analyst at Utah State. 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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