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 four 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, as well as first degree premeditated murder and first degree felony murder during the commission of a felony for the unborn child’s death.
Later, the jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment for the first-degree murder chargers, per WKRN. Taylor will be sentenced on September 9 for the second-degree murder charge.
Per local reports, the jury reached its guilty verdict within two hours of closing arguments concluding in the eight-day trial on Wednesday.
Taylor sat silent as the jury foreperson read out the verdict at 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 verdict.
Taylor’s lawyer Letitia Quinones-Hollins told WKRN of Wednesday’s court ruling, “While we respect the jury system and the process, we must also respectfully disagree with today’s verdict and plan to appeal the decision because Blaise did not do this.”
“[Taylor] maintains that he is innocent and we will continue 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 is also a tragedy.”
During 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 may have spiked her drink because he did not want her to carry her pregnancy to term. (Per the prosecution, Taylor suspected the unborn child was his.)
“What did you put in my drink?” Benning demanded to know, according to friend Nijaiha Jackson. “‘I knew my drink tasted funny. You did this because you didn’t want the baby.’”
Benning died on her 25th 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 at 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 caused 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.
