Former Arkansas State football player Blaise Taylor has been sentenced to consecutive life sentences for poisoning his pregnant girlfriend Jade Benning to death in Nashville.
The 30-year-old former defensive back was handed the prison terms on Wednesday following his conviction on multiple murder charges in connection with the deaths of 25-year-old Benning and their unborn child, baby Ivy.
Taylor received consecutive life sentences after being found guilty of one count of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree murder, and two counts of first-degree felony murder. Under United States legal principles, first-degree murder involves deliberate unlawful killing, while felony murder applies when a death results during the commission of a dangerous crime.
Prosecutors established that Taylor spiked Benning's pink lemonade with a lethal quantity of cocaine in February 2023. At the time of the poisoning, Benning was five months pregnant.
Emergency services were summoned on February 25, 2023, when Taylor called 911 and claimed that Benning was suffering from an allergic reaction. Benning was rushed to a local hospital for urgent medical treatment.
The couple's unborn child died two days after the hospital admission. Benning succumbed to acute cocaine poisoning on March 6, 2023, which was her 25th birthday. Cocaine is a powerful central nervous system stimulant that can cause fatal cardiovascular failure and organ toxicity when ingested in heavy doses.
Conviction and trial deliberations
A jury convicted Taylor in July after deliberating for less than three hours at trial. Defense attorneys had argued during the proceedings that Benning may have suffered a self-administered overdose, but jurors rejected that claim.
Taylor had maintained his innocence and denied all allegations throughout the legal process. Following the sentencing on Wednesday, defense attorney Letitia Quinones-Hollins confirmed that the defense team intends to challenge the verdict.
"We are extremely disappointed but not surprised by the harsh sentence... this was a flawed trial of a tenuous case, and we will appeal and look forward to doing so," Quinones-Hollins said after the hearing.
Character references and prosecution response
During Wednesday's sentencing hearing, Taylor submitted 87 character reference letters written by supporters vouching for his background and personality.
Nashville Assistant District Attorney Jan Norman read excerpts from the submissions to the court, noting how supporters described the former athlete. "They describe a man of honor, honesty, a man of great accomplishments and as someone who has faith in the Lord and was raised by a strong family," Norman said, according to reporting by local station WKRN.
Norman told the court that more than one letter writer described Taylor as someone they would want their own daughters to marry. However, the prosecutor highlighted a striking omission across all 87 submissions.
"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.
Text messages and motive
The prosecution presented evidence showing tension between the couple regarding the pregnancy in the months preceding the fatal poisoning. Investigators revealed text messages extracted from Benning's phone that detailed her discussions about the future of their child.
In one text message sent to a close female friend months before her death, Benning indicated that Taylor wanted her to terminate her pregnancy. An investigator read the message aloud in court: "I'm going to tell him today that I'm not having the abortion... so he can just get it out of his head."
Three months before her death, Benning sent a direct message to Taylor addressing his reluctance to become a father. "You said how you felt and stated that moving forward you want no part, so I will let it be that. I will not involve you at any point. I will love this child unconditionally with or without you," she wrote.
While Taylor's defense team asserted that he later reached out to Benning to work on their relationship, state prosecutors argued that his persistent unwillingness to raise the child drove him to commit the murder.
Football background and parole terms
Taylor was previously a prominent college football player, competing as a defensive back for the Arkansas State University Red Wolves between 2014 and 2017. He earned selection as a team captain during his collegiate career in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Following his college playing career, Taylor transitioned into football operations and worked in the scouting department for the Tennessee Titans, the National Football League franchise based in Nashville. He later worked for a year at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.
At the time of his arrest, Taylor had recently accepted a position as a defensive analyst at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Police arrested him less than a week after his appointment to the Texas A&M football staff became public.
Under Tennessee state law, Taylor will not become eligible to apply for parole until he reaches the age of 81, according to news outlet KARK. If parole is ever granted for his first life term, he will immediately begin serving his second consecutive life sentence behind bars.
