Blaise Taylor Trial: Evidence, Testimony, and Verdict

Blaise Taylor, a former Tennessee Titans scout and Arkansas State football standout, is on trial in Nashville on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of felony murder in the February 2023 deaths of his pregnant girlfriend, Jade Benning, and their unborn daughter. Prosecutors say Taylor, 30, laced Benning’s pink lemonade with cocaine dissolved in alcohol during a date night at her apartment. He has pleaded not guilty. A conviction carries life without the possibility of parole.¹

Who Jade Benning Was

Jade Benning was a 24-year-old Nashville chef, originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. She worked as a head pastry chef at Mirabellas Table and ran her own catering business, JTB Eatery. At the time of her death she was roughly five months pregnant with a daughter she had already named Ivy Blair.² She and Taylor met on Hinge in August 2022. By November she was pregnant, and text messages introduced at trial show Taylor initially wanted no part of the child. Benning told a friend by text: “I’m going to tell him today that I’m not having the abortion… so he can just get it out of his head.”³ The two resumed dating about a month before her death.⁴

What Happened on February 25, 2023

Taylor went to Benning’s apartment on Lebanon Pike that evening for a planned date involving cooking and a paint activity.⁵ Sometime during the visit, Benning became violently ill and called her best friend, Nijaiha Jackson. During the roughly six-minute call, Jackson testified, she heard Benning confront Taylor: “What did you do? What did you put in my drink?” Benning said she could not walk straight and could not feel her legs. Jackson told jurors the last thing she heard Benning say was, “You did this so something would happen to the baby.” Taylor, according to Jackson, said little, telling Benning he “didn’t have anything” and that she was “scaring” him.⁶

At 9:38 p.m., Taylor called 911 and reported an “allergic reaction.” Asked what Benning was allergic to, he said, “I don’t think she’s allergic to anything — I don’t know.”⁷ Benning went into cardiac arrest at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and suffered a non-survivable brain injury. Ivy died in utero on February 27. Benning was kept on life support until her family removed it on March 6, 2023, her 25th birthday.⁸

The Forensic Evidence

Dr. Erin Carney, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy, ruled the cause of death acute cocaine toxicity. She testified that Benning’s blood contained 1,787 nanograms of cocaine per milliliter, the highest concentration she had encountered in more than 3,000 autopsies. Benning’s brain was swollen and her heart chambers dilated, with no signs of a heart attack, pneumonia, or other underlying illness. The level and route of the drug, Dr. Carney said, pointed to oral ingestion rather than snorting or injection, and oral ingestion at that dose was “very uncommon,” consistent with Benning having consumed it unknowingly.⁹

Crime scene investigators seized a nearly empty bottle of V8 Splash, a half-full container of pink lemonade, two water glasses, a glass with liquor, a comforter, a washcloth, and baby-related items from the apartment.¹⁰ Detective Adam Reese testified that a drinking cup visible in photographs taken in front of Benning was missing from the apartment by the time police executed their search warrant.¹¹

The Prosecution’s Theory

Assistant District Attorney Jan Norman is leading the state’s case before Judge Steve Dozier in Davidson County Criminal Court. In opening statements, Norman told jurors that Benning’s own words that night set out what happened: “What did you do, I can’t feel my legs, I can’t walk straight, what did you put in my drink.”¹²

The state’s theory is that Taylor did not want a child, pressured Benning to have an abortion, and when she refused, dissolved cocaine in alcohol and mixed it into her pink lemonade. The missing cup, prosecutors argue, points to cleanup rather than a spontaneous act.

The Prior-Girlfriend Testimony

To argue a pattern, prosecutors called Apple Dennie, a former girlfriend, on June 27, 2026. Dennie told jurors that in 2017 Taylor told her he had gotten another woman pregnant and was extremely upset. According to her testimony, Taylor searched online for ways to induce an abortion and asked her to obtain abortion pills, saying he could “make her take them or put it in her drink.”¹³

The Defense’s Case

Taylor is represented by attorney Letitia Quinones-Hollins, with co-counsel Joshua Brand. Quinones-Hollins has called the state’s narrative a “far stretch” and told jurors Taylor was the one who called 911 and stayed with Benning at the hospital, conduct she said was inconsistent with a killer’s. She has argued Benning had a history of using drugs and alcohol and framed Taylor, once he learned he was likely the father, as an “excited father-to-be.”¹⁴¹⁵

Before trial, the defense moved to exclude the forensic evidence at the heart of the state’s case. One motion challenged the chain of custody for Benning’s blood and urine samples, pointing to a corrected laboratory report showing a different collection date and time than earlier records. Another invoked a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to argue the prosecution must call the specific analyst who performed the testing rather than a reviewer.¹⁶ The defense also subpoenaed additional records from Vanderbilt, though Quinones-Hollins told the court the defense was not alleging malpractice.¹⁴

The defense has separately pointed to what it says was contamination of the scene. Testimony revealed that friends of Benning, acting at her mother’s request, entered the apartment to take photographs and move items, with one witness saying they felt compelled to act because “no one was doing anything.”⁸

How Taylor Got to Trial

A Davidson County grand jury indicted Taylor in March 2024. Deputy U.S. Marshals arrested him in Logan, Utah, where he was then working as a senior defensive analyst at Utah State University, and he was returned to Nashville on March 14, 2024.⁷ On April 26, 2024, he was released after an unidentified person paid roughly $250,000, or ten percent of a $2.5 million bond, and was ordered to wear a GPS monitor.¹⁷

Where the Case Stands

Trial opened on June 22, 2026, under case number 2024-A-490. As of late June 2026, the case remains open, with the most recent jury trial appearance on June 27, 2026, and no verdict reported. The trial was expected to run at least six days.¹⁸¹⁴

1
WKRN. Blaise Taylor Murder Trial Opening Statements
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New York Post. Blaise Taylor Allegedly Pressured Girlfriend to Get Abortion Before Alleged Cocaine Poisoning
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KARK. Fourth Day of Blaise Taylor Murder Trial Details Jade Benning’s Texts Before Her Alleged Poisoning
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WSMV. Murder Trial Continues in Death of Pregnant TN Woman
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Fox 17 Nashville. Day 3: Investigators Walk Through Apartment, Phone Data in Blaise Taylor Trial
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WSMV. Woman Recalls Final Heartbreaking Phone Call the Night Jade Benning, Her Unborn Child Were Allegedly Poisoned
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Nashville.gov. Blaise Taylor Arrested in Utah on Nashville First-Degree Murder Indictment
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WSMV. Blaise Taylor Trial Hears 911 Call, Testimony About Evidence in Jade Benning’s Apartment
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WSMV. Cocaine That Killed Pregnant TN Woman Suspicious, Medical Examiner Testifies in Murder Trial of Former NFL Scout
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Court TV. Former NFL Scout Charged With Poisoning Deaths of Girlfriend, Unborn Child
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People. Blaise Taylor and Jade Benning Murder: What to Know
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NewsChannel 5 Nashville. Blaise Taylor Murder Trial Begins, Jury Hears Opening Statements in Death of Jade Benning
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Fox 17 Nashville. Day 5 Trial of Ex-Titans Scout: Medical Examiner, Witnesses Testify
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The Tennessean. Blaise Taylor Former Titans Scout Murder Trial Preview
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New York Post. Disturbing Photo Reveals Alleged Cocaine-Laced Drink Blaise Taylor Is Accused of Using to Kill Girlfriend, Unborn Baby
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WKRN. Trial: Blaise Taylor Seeks Blocking Key Forensic Evidence in Murder Case
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NewsChannel 5 Nashville. Accused and Now Former Tennessee Titans Scout Makes $2.5 Million Bond
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Nashville Criminal Court. Criminal Court Case Search: Blaise Taylor