Former faculty soccer participant Blaise Taylor was convicted of killing his former girlfriend Jade Benning and her unborn baby.
On Wednesday, July 1, a Nashville jury discovered Taylor, 30, responsible on all 4 counts associated to the deaths of Benning and her unborn child in 2023, per WSMV 4 Information.
The athlete was convicted of second diploma homicide and first diploma felony homicide throughout fee of a felony in Benning’s loss of life, in addition to first diploma premeditated homicide and first diploma felony homicide throughout the fee of a felony for the unborn baby’s loss of life.
Later, the jury advisable a sentence of life imprisonment for the first-degree homicide chargers, per WKRN. Taylor will likely be sentenced on September 9 for the second-degree homicide cost.
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Per native studies, the jury reached its responsible verdict inside two hours of closing arguments concluding within the eight-day trial on Wednesday.
Taylor sat silent because the jury foreperson learn out the decision on the Davidson County Prison Courtroom.
Us Weekly has reached out to Taylor’s legal professional and the Nashville District Legal professional’s Workplace for touch upon the decision.
Taylor’s lawyer Letitia Quinones-Hollins advised WKRN of Wednesday’s courtroom ruling, “Whereas we respect the jury system and the method, we should additionally respectfully disagree with at the moment’s verdict and plan to attraction the choice as a result of Blaise didn’t do that.”
“[Taylor] maintains that he’s harmless and we’ll proceed working to show that,” the lawyer went on. “We perceive and respect the ache that Ms. Benning’s household and pals really feel over her tragic loss of life and the loss of life of her unborn child, however placing an harmless man behind bars can also be a tragedy.”
Throughout the trial, the prosecution accused Taylor of administering a deadly dose of cocaine to Benning by way of a drink throughout a date evening at her condominium on February 25, 2023.
Nashville Assistant District Legal professional Jan Norman advised the courtroom on Wednesday, June 24, that Benning referred to as a buddy that February evening to say that she feared Taylor might have spiked her drink as a result of he didn’t need her to hold her being pregnant to time period. (Per the prosecution, Taylor suspected the unborn baby was his.)
Jade Benning Jade Benning/Linkedin
“What did you place in my drink?” Benning demanded to know, in line with buddy Nijaiha Jackson. “‘I knew my drink tasted humorous. You probably did this since you didn’t need the newborn.’”
Benning died on her twenty fifth birthday on March 6, 2023, having misplaced her unborn child a number of days earlier on February 27, 2023. An post-mortem discovered that Benning had 1,787 nanograms of cocaine per milliliter of blood on the time of her loss of life.
For his half, Taylor has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not responsible to all costs. His attorneys argued at trial that Benning’s loss of life was attributable to her personal alleged drug use.
Taylor performed faculty soccer at Arkansas State College from 2014 to 2017 earlier than becoming a member of Duke College as a graduate assistant coach. He later labored as a scout for the Tennessee Titans from 2021 to 2023.
