Former Tennessee Titans scout Blaise Taylor has been sentenced after he was convicted of killing his pregnant girlfriend by putting cocaine in her lemonade.
Taylor received two back-to-back life sentences for the deaths of Jade Benning and her unborn child. The Davidson County District Attorney’s Office described the prosecution as “one of the highest-profile murder cases Nashville has seen in years.”
“Both of these victims deserve a just punishment,” Davidson County Judge Steve Dozier said during the Sept. 9 sentencing hearing. “What occurred on this particular night shows a level of cruelty, a level of calculation, a level of inhumanity that’s deeper than just some impulsive, reckless thoughts that may have come to mind at that particular occasion.”
The deadly events began on Feb. 25, 2023, while Taylor and Benning, who was five months pregnant, were having dinner at a home. Benning soon became seriously ill.
Benning called her best friend, Nijaiha Jackson, who recounted the conversation during her testimony. “She was saying, ‘My drink tasted funny, I can’t even walk straight, you did this so something could happen to the baby,’” Jackson said.
Taylor then called 911, telling dispatchers that Benning was unresponsive and suggesting she may have suffered an allergic reaction.
“We had cookies and pasta,” Taylor said in the 911 recording played for jurors. “I don’t know what she’s done…I don’t know what to do.”
Benning was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she was put on life support. She died of acute cocaine poisoning on March 6, 2023, her 25th birthday. A Davidson County medical examiner testified that the cocaine levels found in her system exceeded anything she had previously encountered.
The unborn baby, whom prosecutors said Taylor was believed to have fathered, died on Feb. 27, 2023.
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Taylor later moved to Utah, where he was arrested in connection with the Nashville first-degree murder indictments. He pleaded not guilty.
According to prosecutors, Taylor poisoned Benning’s drink because he was unhappy about the pregnancy, a claim his attorney disputed, pointing out that Taylor tried to help Benning.
“There was only one person that night that called 911,” attorney Letitia Quinones-Hollins said in court. “With all of this medical emergency, all of these things that were going on with this young lady, there was only one person who called the police, who called for help, and that was Blaise.”
While the defense argued that Benning took cocaine willingly, the medical examiner characterized those circumstances as “concerning,” adding that the police investigation did not show any history of drug use.
The jury returned a verdict in less than two hours, finding Taylor guilty of second-degree murder, first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree felony murder.
Ahead of sentencing, defense attorney Joshua Brand submitted 87 character reference letters from Taylor’s loved ones.
Nashville Assistant District Attorney Jan Norman told the judge that while the letters “described a man of honor, a man of honesty, a man of great accomplishments,” none acknowledged Benning or her unborn child who they planned to name Ivy.
“Not one single letter out of the 87 letters mention anything about what Blaise Taylor did,” Norman said. “They don’t mention anything about the jury’s verdict, the finding that Blaise Taylor intentionally, and with premeditation, poisoned Jade Benning for the purpose of murdering his own unborn child.”
Attorneys for Taylor did not immediately return requests for comment from Oxygen.