Former college football player Blaise Taylor was convicted of killing his former girlfriend Jade Benning and her unborn child.
On Wednesday, July 1, a Nashville jury found Taylor, 30, guilty on all 4 counts related to the deaths of Benning and her unborn baby in 2023, per WSMV 4 News.
The athlete was convicted of second degree murder and first degree felony murder during commission of a felony in Benning’s death, in addition to first degree premeditated murder and first degree felony murder through the commission of a felony for the unborn child’s death.
Later, the jury advisable a sentence of life imprisonment for the first-degree murder chargers, per WKRN. Taylor will probably be sentenced on September 9 for the second-degree murder charge.
Per local reports, the jury reached its guilty verdict inside two hours of closing arguments concluding within the eight-day trial on Wednesday.
Taylor sat silent because the jury foreperson read out the decision on the Davidson County Criminal Court.
Us Weekly has reached out to Taylor’s attorney and the Nashville District Attorney’s Office for comment on the decision.
Taylor’s lawyer Letitia Quinones-Hollins told WKRN of Wednesday’s court ruling, “While we respect the jury system and the method, we must also respectfully disagree with today’s verdict and plan to appeal the choice because Blaise didn’t do that.”
“[Taylor] maintains that he’s innocent and we’ll proceed working to prove that,” the lawyer went on. “We understand and respect the pain that Ms. Benning’s family and friends feel over her tragic death and the death of her unborn baby, but putting an innocent man behind bars can be a tragedy.”
Throughout the trial, the prosecution accused Taylor of administering a fatal dose of cocaine to Benning through a drink during a date night at her apartment on February 25, 2023.
Nashville Assistant District Attorney Jan Norman told the court on Wednesday, June 24, that Benning called a friend that February night to say that she feared Taylor can have spiked her drink because he didn’t want her to hold her pregnancy to term. (Per the prosecution, Taylor suspected the unborn child was his.)
Jade Benning Jade Benning/Linkedin
“What did you set in my drink?” Benning demanded to know, in accordance with friend Nijaiha Jackson. “‘I knew my drink tasted funny. You probably did this since you didn’t want the infant.’”
Benning died on her twenty fifth birthday on March 6, 2023, having lost her unborn baby several days earlier on February 27, 2023. An autopsy found that Benning had 1,787 nanograms of cocaine per milliliter of blood on the time of her death.
For his part, Taylor has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all charges. His attorneys argued at trial that Benning’s death was brought on by her own alleged drug use.
Taylor played college football at Arkansas State University from 2014 to 2017 before joining Duke University as a graduate assistant coach. He later worked as a scout for the Tennessee Titans from 2021 to 2023.