- May 21, 2026
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Former Titans scout Blaise Taylor will be spending the rest of his life in prison. Twice.
Taylor, convicted of poisoning his girlfriend, Jade Benning, and their unborn child on July 1, received a sentence on Wednesday of consecutive life terms.
More than 80 people submitted letters vouching for Taylor's character. Nashville assistant district attorney Jan Norman responded to that effort in court on Wednesday.
“Your honor, the defense just submitted 87 letters all speaking to Mr. Taylor’s character," Norman said, via Alicia Patton of WKRN.com. "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. More than one of the authors of those letters actually stated he is someone they would want their own daughters to marry. The person described in these character letters, the authors themselves, 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.”
Taylor's attorney, Letitia Quinones-Hollins, issued a statement regarding the sentence imposed on Taylor.
"We are extremely disappointed but not surprised by the harsh sentence," Quinones-Hollins said. "This was a flawed trial of a tenuous case, and we will appeal and look forward to doing so."
It's the only thing Taylor can do. Given the outcome of the case, the choices are to roll the dice on getting a new trial or scrapping the charges entirely, or sit behind bars until the day he dies.
Unless and until an appellate court disagrees with the outcome, the official position of the state of Tennessee is that Taylor committed murder of his girlfriend and their child, in a particularly heinous way. It's for Quinones-Hollins to show that mistakes were made at trial that require the status quo to change.
Taylor, convicted of poisoning his girlfriend, Jade Benning, and their unborn child on July 1, received a sentence on Wednesday of consecutive life terms.
More than 80 people submitted letters vouching for Taylor's character. Nashville assistant district attorney Jan Norman responded to that effort in court on Wednesday.
“Your honor, the defense just submitted 87 letters all speaking to Mr. Taylor’s character," Norman said, via Alicia Patton of WKRN.com. "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. More than one of the authors of those letters actually stated he is someone they would want their own daughters to marry. The person described in these character letters, the authors themselves, 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.”
Taylor's attorney, Letitia Quinones-Hollins, issued a statement regarding the sentence imposed on Taylor.
"We are extremely disappointed but not surprised by the harsh sentence," Quinones-Hollins said. "This was a flawed trial of a tenuous case, and we will appeal and look forward to doing so."
It's the only thing Taylor can do. Given the outcome of the case, the choices are to roll the dice on getting a new trial or scrapping the charges entirely, or sit behind bars until the day he dies.
Unless and until an appellate court disagrees with the outcome, the official position of the state of Tennessee is that Taylor committed murder of his girlfriend and their child, in a particularly heinous way. It's for Quinones-Hollins to show that mistakes were made at trial that require the status quo to change.