Ex-Titans scout, Arkansas State DB Blaise Taylor handed 2 life sentences for using cocaine to murder his pregnant girlfriend
Former Tennessee Titans scout and Arkansas State defensive back Blaise Taylor was handed two consecutive life sentences Wednesday for the 2023 murder of his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child.
Taylor was accused of poisoning his then-girlfriend, Jade Benning on Feb. 25, 2023 by putting cocaine in her lemonade when she was five months pregnant. Benning’s unborn fetus died two days later. Benning died weeks later of acute cocaine poisoning on March 6, her 25th birthday. The child was believed to have been Taylor’s.
Taylor faced trial and pleaded not guilty. Per WSMV in Nashville, Benning’s friend, Nijaiha Jackson testified about a phone call she received from Benning on the night that she was poisoned.
“She immediately starts saying, ‘What did you do? What did you put in my drink?’ Then I heard her say, ‘Blaise, you’re scaring me,’” Jackson testified. “He said, ‘You’re scaring me.’ And she was like, ‘I know you put something in my drink. … I knew my drink tasted funny. …
“‘You did this so something would happen to the baby.’”
A Nashville jury convicted him on four counts on July 1: One count of first-degree felony murder of Benning, one count of second-degree murder of Benning, one count of first-degree murder of an unborn child and one count of first-degree felony murder of the unborn child. Per WSMV, the jury took two hours to deliberate before reaching its verdicts.
Taylor faced his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, and the jury recommended two consecutive life sentences and an additional 22 years in prison for Taylor. His attroney, Letitia Quinones-Hollins, issued a statement that Taylor intends to appeal the decision.
“We are extremely disappointed but not surprised by the harsh sentence,” Quinones-Hollins’ statement reads, per WSMV. “This was a flawed trial of a tenuous case, and we will appeal and look forward to doing so.”
Nashville Assistant District Attorney Jan Norman, meanwhile, commented on 87 character witness letters that were offered for Taylor.
“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,” Norman said, per The Athletic.
Taylor, 30, played four seasons at Arkansas State from 2014-17. He was a team captain and earned All-Sun Belt honors. After college, Taylor worked as a scout for the Titans through 2023. He later worked for Utah State as a defensive analyst.