Crime Weekly - Jade Benning | Inside the Blaise Taylor Murder Trial (Part 4)

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

On the night of February 25th, 2023, 24-year-old Jade Benning called one of her oldest and closest friends. She wasn't calling to catch up. In fact, for much of the call, it seemed as if Jade wasn't even speaking to her friend, and instead, this friend listened as Jade confronted the man standing inside her apartment with her: Blaise Taylor, a man who jade had recently reconnected with. A man who's child she was carrying. A man who would later call himself her boyfriend. Jade sounded confused, her speech was becoming rapidly impaired; she said she couldn't feel her legs. And then she asked Blaise a question that would eventually become the center of a murder investigation: What did you put in my drink?Try our coffee! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.comBecome a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeeklyShop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shopYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcastWebsite: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.comInstagram: @CrimeWeeklyPodTwitter: @CrimeWeeklyPodFacebook: @CrimeWeeklyPodADS:Visit https://www.Chime.com/CRIMEWEEKLY to join fee-free banking with Chime!Visit https://www.TryFUM.com/CRIMEWEEKLY and start The Good Habit today!https://www.Talkiatry.com/CRIMEWEEKLY - Get real online psychiatric care today! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And I'm Derek Lavascer. So today we are going into the fourth and final part of the Jade Benning series. And this is where we get a little relief because we get to see what happens to Blaze. But listen, we can look at this case in what we've talked about over the last three episodes. And we can say there's no video showing Blaze Taylor putting cocaine into Jade Benning's drink. Police never recovered the cops. prosecutors believed contained the poison. They never recovered the cell phone that Blaze was believed to be using that night. Jade's apartment was not immediately secured as a crime scene. Family and friends entered it before homicide investigators did. Even the medical examiner could not determine Jade's manner of death, meaning it was written as inconclusive, not homicide. Undetermined.

Yeah, not homicide. And yet, on July 1, 2026, after hearing seven days of testimony, a Nash, jury needed only a few hours to decide that Blaze Taylor murdered Jade Benning and their unborn daughter Ivy. So what did the jury see that convinced them? And why didn't the defense's case that they built convinced the jury otherwise? Because this is a largely circumstantial case. I think we can all acknowledge that there was a lot actually in Blaze's favor that I think could have possibly swayed a jury into saying, yeah, we think he did this, but we don't have enough. So rather than repeat multiple days of testimony, witness by witness, I want to look at

this the way the jury ultimately had to look at it. What was the state actually asking them to believe? And what was the defense asking them not to believe? So Blaise Taylor originally faced first degree premeditated murder involving Ivy, murder charges involving Jade, and felony murder charges involving both Jade and Ivy. So once again, this was always going to be a circumstantial case. There was no eyewitness to anything being put into Jade's drink, no confession, no recovered, poisoned drinker glassware, no surveillance footage. The state had to convince a jury that the pieces could really only fit together in one reasonable way. They said that enough evidence had been shown to prove that Jade was beyond happy and excited to be having her baby. She was planning for Ivy to be

born even before Blaze came back into her life. There was evidence in the texts between Jade and Blaze that when they had gone no contact with each other, months before her death, Jade felt Blaze had given her what she called a crazy ultimatum, right? And according to the prosecution, it was the same ultimatum that Blaze had given Xavier Winford when he found out she was pregnant with his child. It's me or the baby. If you choose to keep the baby, you will lose me. Not only am I not going to have anything to do with you, I will have nothing to do with this child. You will never see me again, basically. The choice is yours. And it seems that Xavier chose to maintain some sort of relationship with Blaze, but Jade chose her baby, Ivy.

She and Blaze stopped talking, but then he made the choice to return, not to support her, not to act as a partner or a father, but to remind Jade that her life was going to change. And this was something she should not be so optimistic about. And when Jade continued on with her pregnancy and didn't let Blaze's negativity sway her, Blaze had to come up with another plan. a plan that he had considered using before on at least one other woman that we know about. And I say at least because I can't imagine how many times this happened with Blaze and these women have just never talked about it. But I'm sure it's happened on more than one occasion. We know it happened with Apple that he got her pregnant. We know what happened with Xavier.

I can tell you this much with Xavier and Apple, especially Apple, with her testimony, I do think that was a big contributing factor to the jury's decision. having them not be connected to Jade in any way, shape, or form and yet reporting similar behaviors and then even making comments like, you know, put something in your drink or put something in her drink, is that, that to me was probably a nail in his coffin, a big one as well. Yeah. So Blaze was like, all right, I can't talk this woman out of terminating this pregnancy. I can't threaten her with losing me to terminate this pregnancy. So maybe I can put something in Jade's drink that could cause a miscarriage, right? So the night before Blaze went to Jade's apartment for their date, he's texting with another woman, Xavier Winford, planning a future with her, telling her they just need to stick together.

This proved that Blaze had no actual intention to have any kind of future with Jade Benning or the child she was carrying, most likely. So on the night of February 25th, 2023, the prosecution is like, listen, Blaze went to Jade's apartment, knowing what he was going to do. he did this knowing that he's already planning a future with Xavier that does not include Jade. He never talked to Xavier about having a baby on the way. So it doesn't seem that it includes Ivy either. Right. There's no disclosure that, hey, I have another baby with another woman on the way and I just, you'd have to be okay with this. Yep.

That's not happening. So Blaz is in no way, shape, or form planning to do anything that includes Jade or Ivy in his future. And yet he's going to Jade's apartment that night. Like, yeah, let's make something for the baby. baby's nursery, as if that's going to happen. So when he went to Jade's apartment, he brought the cocaine with him. The medical examiner, Dr. Aaron Carney, testified that Jade would have gone pulseless within 30 minutes of ingesting the high concentration of cocaine. He goes over there to the date night with cocaine to put in her drink. The testimony that you heard from Nigea Jackson

and from Kianti Jones about them stopping by, that whole time that he's shuffling those Uno cards, he has the cocaine to put in her drink. He gets there at 7 p.m. They show up at 7.30 for 30 minutes, talking about spades and having random conversation, and he has it. EMT don't get to her until 9.50.

Dr. Carney's testimony is that Jade was given the cocaine that she ingested orally 30 minutes before. You have this photograph from 829 that shows the progress. She has not been given anything at that point. The next image that you have is at 9.10 p.m. It is somewhere between this point and the next. image of their progress that she has to have been given the cocaine in her drink. 9.24 p.m. is the next time that there is an event. It is after that 30-minute mark. She has finished the painting. You heard Dr. Carney's testimony about how the symptoms

would start off not severe but it would escalate really quickly. And nine 924 to 928 you have four minutes four minutes after he has put this in her drink he is there and knows what he has done and for four minutes takes picture after picture with j benning Blaze Taylor went there with a plan. There was a plan. He has already poisoned her. And he is taking pictures with her. Blaze Taylor did not plan for Jade Benning calling Nigea Jackson. That hadn't happened yet.

Jade is telling him, I can't feel my legs. I can't walk straight. He is there and he is not. saying anything to her. Like, Jade, what is wrong? What's going on? Let me help you. Come, sit down. What, what is happening? You seem fine just a second ago. What can I get you? Do you want me to call someone? You, you didn't hear testimony of any of that from Nigea Jackson. He stood there for six minutes and nine seconds knowing that he put cocaine in her drink and she drank it. Well, she said these things to him of, I know you did this, stood there for six minutes and nine

seconds and did nothing to help her. At some point, Blaze Taylor figured out that Jade called Nyjaya. He tells Detective Smith that he was there when she called her and that he spoke to Nigeria on the phone. And Jay told Nigeria she wanted her to come over. Nijia Jackson's testimony was unimpeached about what she heard her best friend said and about what happened that night. Yeah, well, that's a pretty good presentation right there of the facts. And it lays out a visual perspective of what, what occurred in the order in which it occurred. And it's kind of what I said at the top of the show, right? The fact that you had Apple say something along the lines of, oh, he told me he was thinking

about putting something in Xavier's drink. And then you have not like a third person. You have Jade, the victim on the phone with Nigeria saying, what did you put in my drink? And then if that's not enough for you, you have medical professionals saying, Listen, with what she experienced, it would have taken about 30 minutes to come into play from the time that she ingested the cocaine. And by that point, Kianti and Nigeria were already gone. It was only Blaze and Jade. So if you don't think Jade's dumb enough to take cocaine while pregnant, then the only other person around would be Blaze, who happens to be the same person who had told someone else, an impartial witness, that they were contemplating.

putting something in an ex-girlfriend's drink. Or I should say a current, a current girlfriend's drink. Yeah. Well, it wasn't even contemplating. He was like, get me the abortion pill so I can put it in her drink. And then when that didn't work, he was like, oh, I got to figure out something else that I can put in her drink. Right. So when we always talk about means, motive, opportunity, this is a case where you clearly have all three.

And I think it's very interesting what the prosecution is saying because it is true. Jade's saying, I can't feel my legs. You did this. you put something in my drink. He is saying nothing. He's not freaking out. He's not like, what the hell's going on? Like, you were fine.

And now you're like, you can't walk. You're vomiting. Like, what is happening here? He's not freaking out. He's almost like coldly and quietly watching his work, set in because he knows what's happening. He's not asking what's happening because he knows. Yeah. And that's pretty good evidence that this guy wasn't just like a complete innocent bystander.

Jade made a concoction of pink lemonade and cocaine. And then all of a sudden she's, you know, having a hard time talking and walking and she can't stand. And he's not like, what is going on? Because he knows. That call was so critical. And the prosecutor said it, right? Blaze wasn't planning on that.

And that call to Nigeria really sewed things up for the prosecution and ultimately for the jury because you have the victim describing what she's feeling in those moments and her assessment of what happened seconds after she starts having those symptoms. She looks at Blaze and says, what did you put in my drink? I knew something was off, you know, and that's that's coming directly from the only person who would be able to tell us what happened inside that apartment before she fell ill. It's incredible. It's incredible.

It kind of makes it seem like Blaze didn't even know she was on the phone, right? Right. It almost seems like she had the phone down on the table or something. And she just, maybe that's what her intention was to call Nigeria, leave it on speakerphone because she needed help. and she wanted someone else to hear what was going on inside the apartment. Yeah, and I think that, you know, by the time Blaze gets to the hospital, he's already found out that Jade called Nigeria.

And he says, oh, I talked to Najaya on the phone. You did, but not while Jade was on the phone with Nyjia. You didn't say, Jade, give me your phone. Let me talk to Nyjah and explain what's happening. You hung up the phone. And then Nyjaya had to call back several times. And then you answered the phone and you were like, I'm going to call 911 when you already had called 911. once. So you're trying to make it sound like you talk to her. There's nothing to hide here. But that's not what happened. You didn't even know she was on the phone until Jade started calling back. So the prosecution basically said that Blaze put the cocaine and Jade's drink to kill her baby. And even the prosecution said he may not have intended to kill Jade. That may have been something where he was like, yeah, this isn't my main goal. But when he saw the effects of the cocaine start to set in, when he knew, he knew.

the quantity of cocaine he used. And when he saw Jade getting worse in front of him and saying she couldn't feel her legs, he stood there and did nothing. He did not call 911 at that point. He didn't try to help her or get her in the car and drive her to a hospital. He stood there and watched as Jade became unconscious. And this is very important because the amount of cocaine he used would not be necessary for a placental abruption, if that's what you were trying to cause. The placental abruptions can happen just from normal cocaine, recreational cocaine use of women who are pregnant. So they're using cocaine and then a placental abruption can happen. It didn't need to be this high quantity of cocaine, but he knew how much cocaine he had used because he wanted to make sure

that the job was done, that what happened needed to happen. So he used it as like, I think, an extraordinary measure to just make sure. But he should have also known that that high amount of cocaine probably also would not be healthy or good for jade. Yeah. I mean, it's common sense. You ask if you overdose on a drug, you can die, right? That's like a common sensical understanding that almost everybody from high school on

knows that a drug may feel good, but if you take too much of it, it can kill you, hence the term overdose. So yes, he would be fully aware that, hey, if I overshoot on this, not. Not only will I kill the baby, but I could potentially kill Jade. And the amount of cocaine he was using was overshooting and then some. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

They said that they only saw this amount of cocaine, this concentration of cocaine and people that are like smuggling balloons of cocaine across like borders and stuff. Listen, you could make an argument and I know I've been putting forward the argument that he wanted to kill the baby, not Jade. I could also go on the other hand and say his rationale was I want to kill the baby, number one. And I'm going to make sure I give her enough to ensure that happens because I'm not going to get another shot at this. And I'm going to give her so much. And if she happens to die too, she dies.

She dies. Then it is what it is. And I just killed two birds with one stone. She forced my hand in this. Anyways. So I could see a world where he was aware of it, but he purposely went over because he wanted to make sure at minimum, Ivy was dead. And if Jade passed away as well, then, oh, well. Collateral damage to him, right?

So, and like I said, he'd probably make the justification of like, well, I wouldn't. be having to do this. And I wouldn't be having to work on plan C if Jade had just done what she was supposed to do. Like, what kind of woman wants to have a baby with a man who wants nothing to do with her? This is ridiculous. So then we find out that when Blaze called 911, he wasn't even in Jade's apartment. I'm running back to the room to check on her. He's outside. It might not be the pink cup by the sink. He's had all of this time. He's running around outside. he's not there with Jade. He told the first officer, the second officer, Detective Smith, everybody.

She threw up, called my dad. He told me to hang up. Called 911. He is running around outside, not even with her. So this is a question for you that I have about how they got that data that he was outside. But I'll ask you after our first break. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Chime.

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More of your money working for you. Which feels like a much better arrangement. So join the millions who are already banking fee-free with America's number one choice for banking. Head to chime.com slash crime weekly. That's chime.com slash crime weekly. Sign up now. It only takes a few minutes. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Bank. Banking services for My pay and chime card provided by Chim's bank partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stateed annual percentage yield and cashback for Chime Prime only. No minimum balance required. For more information on APY rates, my pay, spot me and travel perks, go to chime.com slash disclosures. Okay, we're back. So you saw on the screen if you're watching and if you weren't watching,

you're just listening on the screen, they had like a GPS thing. And it showed that Blaze was outside of the apartment at the time of the 911 call. Is that something that 911 would have access to? Like, they can find the location of the phone and know, like, kind of precisely where it is and show that he wasn't in the apartment. He was outside. 911 can track GPS coordinates. But more importantly, his phone, maybe they could track something. I don't know how they would have done it if they didn't have the original phone.

it could have been something where based on GPS cordons at the time of the phone call, they're able to go back in history and determine what was at the time of that call. Well, he was telling them he didn't know exactly, he didn't know her address, he didn't know exactly where he was. He was like, I think it's here. I think it's here. So they may have enacted that location to get a more precise because he couldn't remember what her apartment number was.

He didn't know her address, things like that. They can absolutely trace the phone call. There's no doubt about it. There's many times where you'll have someone saying, I don't know where they are and they can use those coordinates to get an approximate location. But it might be more than that. And I could be wrong, but didn't she say something here that while she was on the call or while he was on the call, he referenced being outside? No, he said, I'm running back to the room.

So it was like he had never made a sort of, he had never stated that he was outside the apartment. But while he was saying that while he was on the phone with them, his phone was outside the apartment, like moving around. the apartment building. And so that would be GPS coordinates more than likely. That would be GPS coordinates. It could have been a combination of 911. It could also be a combination of subpoena in the records from the phone company and getting those exact GPS coordinates.

And, you know, listen, they're accurate. They're good. And it's going to at least show movement. But it doesn't necessarily, I always have a little bit of caution when it's in close proximity to where they could be. GPS coordinates can be off by a couple degrees with that. However, at minimum, like you alluded to, it would show movement.

It would show that, hey, wherever he was, even if it's off a little bit on the map, he wasn't in one place. You would expect that ping to keep pinging in the same exact location wherever it first started pinging when he made the call. And yet he's running around outside the building. And then it brings in a whole new slew of questions like,

what was he doing out there? What was he getting rid of? I think she even said it in this clip. She said that. Maybe it wasn't the paper. Maybe it wasn't anything. That would have actually been stupid to leave that cup behind.

And yet if it was another cup, you take that thing and you throw it. road as far as you can't into the woods. Because I can't really see too much here, but it looks like from that little screen grab of what the prosecutor is showing, there does appear to be a little bit of a wooded area to the east of that building. So, I mean, you could run out there and, you know, he's an athlete. You could take that cup and launch it into the woods and you'll never find it again.

Or the dumpster of the apartment complex, you know. Yeah, into his car, right? Hey, let me go dump my, let me put this. That would make even more sense. Let me put it. Take it somewhere else. Exactly. Now he dumps it on a bridge as he's driving home.

So, yeah, a lot of questions with him being outside there. Or the bag that the cocaine came in, like anything like that. At minimum, he's not where he should be. You have someone who has in need of serious medical attention. She's carrying your baby. And yet you're outside on the phone, leaving her inside by herself. That was the point where it's like, why would you leave this person who's clearly in crisis, you know, vomiting? They told you specifically to put her on her side so that she wouldn't, you know,

they find her face down. You're not even anywhere near her, offering her comfort or keeping a track of her vitals, nothing. That was odd. And also, you know, he's on the phone with 911. They're asking him questions. Well, is she looking like this? Is she, how does her color look? Is she doing this?

Is she doing that? He's like, no, no, no. You weren't even there to see her whether or not she was doing these things. So he's just answering these questions based on nothing. He's just answering how he thinks they want him to answer. Yeah. But overall, I definitely, like I said, so 911 can track a cell phone through cell tower coordination, triangulation, GPS, data, Wi-Fi.

They can see all that. They have the access to that. However, it's not always perfectly accurate. So it could have been a combination of things, but at minimum it would show you moving because the pings would come back at different locations. So that's the gist of it. But if you're in an emergency situation and you get in a car accident on a road, roadway, they're going to be able to find you relatively quickly because it's going to give you

the general vicinity. Yeah. So I don't know how they got that stuff, but it was something, you know, reliable that was allowed to be used in court. Especially if he was saying, I don't know where I am. I don't know the exact address. Yeah. So Blaise Taylor's defense was essentially a reasonable doubt defense built around four major ideas.

Jade may have voluntarily used drugs. The toxicology could not reliably prove intentional poisoning. The physical evidence was badly compromised. and Blaze's behavior was inconsistent with someone who had just intentionally murdered someone. Now, the most aggressive part of their defense, and I think the one they spent the most time on, was trying to prove that Jade had access to drugs and may have willingly used them. So they introduced messages from Jade's phone showing that she had contacts connected to drugs, and that on the afternoon of February 25th, she messaged someone saved in her phone as Danny Weed,

and she messaged this person about drugs. Eric Devlin was a defense called digital forensic analyst who testified two messages recovered from Jade's phone. This is actually a Snapchat message. So this message was between Danny, the Snapchat ID, Danny Wallace Jr. and a Jade Binning. This activity occurred on 120, 2023, approximately 6.53, 47 p.m. specifically stating, hey, could I get an eighth of top shelf and one sativia or hybrid cart. This was 2.3, 2003, approximately 9.57.21 p.m. It says Apple fritter with the emoji of a fire sign, $25, $8, $50 quarter, $100 half, $150 zip.

It says pressure plus with the emoji for a carts with a fire set with a fire $30 a pop price cut on two plus. This is an actual iOS text message. So this is a communication between this particular device and another individual. The text message start at 1122, 2012, 1040, 13.13 a.m. Do a, do a of your coworkers get Adderall? The reply, Lauren has some. Message again, ooh, what, M.G. The reply was 15.

Message to this particular device. Who, ask her, can I buy some? And then the next was a follow-up. This is still a message to this particular device. And what color are they? And the reply from this device was orange. The center of this message is the numbers listed in the contacts as belonging to, and I'm going to kill the name, Najaja, N-I-J-A-I-H-A.

N-J-A-I-H-A. Yes, ma'am. This is an iOS text message, and this is between the Jade Binning account and Mario Gutierrez account. On this message, it occurs on 218, 2003-9-3-0-2. The message was from the Jade-Binning account. saying he's about to bring your weed. There's a reply from the Mario Gutierrez account says, I fell asleep, and I don't know if I'm allowed to curse in this courtroom or not.

Page 10 is an iOS communication between the contact Danny, in parentheses, weed, and this particular device. On this one, the message is, do yo, I have mushrooms right now? L.O., my co-workers wanting some. The message says, yo, can you holler at Danny? Your boy needs a half, please and thanks. Page 12 is a text message between Jade Benning and the contact Danny Weed. And it occurs on 225, 2003, beginning at 3.39.21 p.m.

Specifically, it says, hey, my coworker wants to get a half from you. The account Danny Weed replies, bet I gotcha when I get back. The account for Jay Binning replies sweet. All right. So we see what they're trying to do that, right? Yeah. So she has a substance abuse issue that she's someone who dabbles in narcotics on a frequent basis. I didn't see any mention or anything that would that would be the descriptions you would use for Coke. All those things, ace, halves, that's zip.

That's all weed. Carts, yeah. Carts. So, yeah, I mean, I get where they're going with this. And to be fair, it's not a. bad place to go to show that that Jade had, you know, had been someone who would use, would use narcotics. The problem is that this is before she's pregnant. There's a lot of women out there who are who have been pregnant or who are pregnant who would admit that they use drugs

before and after their pregnancy. But during their pregnancy, because they were responsible, they, they didn't. And so I get what they're going with here. I don't blame them. I think it's a smart defense. I think it's showing that this isn't someone who never used drugs in the past. I just don't know if it's going to stick, you know? So many of these messages were actually sent during a time that Jade was pregnant and knew that she was pregnant. However, as the prosecution was able to point out and prove, these messages were all in regards for getting substances. Yeah, for other people. Usually marijuana or Adderall, right, for her friends. She was asking about buying for her friends. And IJA was asking Jade if she knew anyone who had Adderall for sale. There was even talk about mushrooms,

but not in the context of Jade using them herself. And in fact, there was interaction with drugs, wasn't it? Yes. However, in your office report, you said that you didn't see any significant evidence of drug dealing or anything that was supposed with this case. I believe I was trying to preface that with it being after she became pregnant. So, and also another thing to note is I was reviewing her phone ongoing for over a year. So you wrote this before you found all that information? Certain, certain portions of this are written before that, but I did find, you know,

I did look through some of those conversations, but it was an ongoing thing for over a year. Did you go back to a mentor report so that it could accurately reflect the evidence in this case as it is. I spoke with the DA's office updating them as it went along, but I don't know that I'm not sure if I added anything in there specifically about that. I have to read through the whole thing. But the big thing was that it was, there was no, it didn't appear to me that she was using drugs after she became pregnant.

Well, after she became pregnant, she was still dealing with drugs, wasn't she? She was facilitating for friends and coworkers. who would contact her and say, ask if she could contact her weed man because they wanted to buy some. And then she would subsequently message him and say, hey, my coworker wants some. That was a thing that would happen repeatedly. Is it your testimony that she never stated, I need X amount or I need this and my coworker needs that? And maybe John needs this? I don't think she necessarily

Every time she contacted him Specified it was for a co-worker But it was pretty consistent that There was a co-worker asking her for something And then she would contact him Well, you'll agree with me that there were When it was for a co-worker You saw my co-worker needs

When it was for an individual That she would put a name to She would say John Needs And in addition to that There would be times that she would say I want or I need, isn't that true? I'd have to look at, like, actually review the messages. So, yeah, what the defense is trying to do here now is they're reaching.

First, they're mad at him because he didn't put in his report that he saw drug activity in Jade's phone. Because, yes, before she was pregnant, Jade did smoke weed or she once tried mushrooms. But he's saying after she was pregnant, there was no drug activity concerning her. Right? And the defense is like, well, why didn't you put that in her report? that she was still in circles of people who were using and dealing drugs. And he's like, why would I have to? And then they're like, but didn't she also say, I need sometimes? And he's trying to say like, yes, but every time we found a corresponding message at the same time in the phone. She was serving as the middleman where someone was like, hey, I need this. And then she would reach out to Danny Wheat or someone to be like, hey, I need this.

But it was because of the other person had asked her. Not to mention, there's no traces of marijuana in her blood. when her toxicology's done. There's no trace of illicit substance. It's outside of the cocaine, right? There's nothing in her apartment, which we already heard testimony to. No drugs, no drug paraphernalia, nothing like that. So if she's doing drugs, what is she smoking it out of? You know, where is she keeping her drugs?

Also, they went back way back and there were no mentions of cocaine in Jade's phone ever, buying cocaine, using cocaine, nothing. And that would have been more problematic. Listen, I, again, understand where the defense is coming from here. The detective, he would not have updated his report, what it's called as a supplemental. So once you write your report, you're not supposed to go back in there and edit it because unless it's like a grammatical error or you got to change a name or something like to make sure that the date and time is correct. But you don't really ever want to go and edit a report after it's been approved by a supervisor. What you would do is a supplemental report to say, hey, on this date, I realized that I had, you know,

put this information wrong or I have more context to this so I want to add a supplemental report so you can see the chronological order of the manner in which you learn this information. So you're not going back and manipulating the report where you could be accused of doing it for the purposes of what you're trying to accomplish. I agree with what you just said as far as the no mention of cocaine. I will acknowledge that having this around the time that she's pregnant, not the best look, right? Like considering why we're here and her cause of death, I'm sure the prosecution would rather not have that.

But you have to acknowledge it. And I think the defense is trying to show that the, in their mind, the detective purposely left those things out because it wouldn't look good for Jade. Would you as a detective have gone back in? Like if you finally got that because he's saying the extraction took a year, right? It took a year for me to review all the messages. It did come to my attention that she was still kind of like getting drugs for friends. I spoke to the DA, but was it really something you think you should have put in the report if there was never any messaging of her getting drugs for herself? I do. And this is something where I used to really, really give my patrolmen a hard time for because I've always said it for six years now with you. If it did, if it's not in your report, it didn't happen. You relaying that information verbally to someone at the DA's office is not, in my opinion, good enough. I was a stickler for that. And I would add it in there because what I found in my case,

If you address things head on that could potentially be a problem but could be explained away, I always found that the defense in many cases didn't even bring it up because they were looking for something that gave the appearance that I was trying to hide it. So when I was able to say, no, actually this supplemental report 72765 where I brought this up because I wanted as an investigator doing a thorough job to explore it. And here's what I found. She never once got it for herself. and there was always a corresponding text message

to support that she was getting it for someone out. So you would not only write up that you discovered these messages, but then you were able to correlate them with her giving it to someone else. And you know what happens a lot of the time, Stephanie? The defense won't even bring it up. They won't even raise it as problematic with the investigation because the answers are already there and they know what you're going to say.

So do you think this was him being like, oh, it's not important to the case because we didn't find anything specific, like specifying she used drugs? Or do you think it was because he was so laser focused on Blaze that he was like, her talking about getting drugs for friends is not even irrelevant? That's a great question, isn't it? That's the, that's the question. And that's the, that's why I can't answer it because people are going to interpret that behavior,

the fact that he didn't put it in there, however they want. The prosecution's going to say, well, we didn't think it was relevant to the case because we were able to rule it out. And the defense is going to say, you were so focused on our client. You had tunnel vision on Blaze. And you knew that this information wouldn't look kindly upon your victim. They wouldn't paint her in the best light. And so you purposely left it out because you knew it wouldn't help your case.

Do you think he purposely left it out? I don't know, but here's what I will say. Last episode, I had given him some benefit of the doubt when it came to the cup and securing the scene. and I'm starting to see a pattern here. Now, I know you started the show by saying that Blaze was convicted of this crime. So great, they got the conviction, but it doesn't absolve them from shoddy police work. And I'm starting to see a pattern here with this guy that I personally don't like. This guy is Detective Adam Reese.

Yep, Detective Adam Reese. I'm starting to see a pattern with him. I don't mind saying it publicly if he sees this. I know he got the conviction. There are things here where he's lucky because this pattern of behavior. behavior. As you mentioned at the top of the show, there was multiple things here. Yeah, I said there were multiple things. The jury could have said, this is reasonable doubt. And don't think for a second they're not going to do an appeal here. And so I can acknowledge that I believe Blaze

intentionally did this. I think what the detective thought happened. He was right. But I also think that he left a lot of holes for the defense to exploit and holes that were avoidable, traps that could have been prevented. That's just the reality of it. But do I personally think he did this because he had tunnel vision on Blaze? Potentially. Yeah. Potentially, I think he knew the answers to the test already and he was looking for the evidence to support it. Which is not the right way to do it. 100% not. Because you're right in this situation, but you wouldn't always be. Right. And your job is to explore all options because if he had found it, and maybe he did. And maybe he didn't find anything there. But to say in trial, oh, I relayed that information to the DA.

Well, guess what, buddy? You're supposed to put that in a document so that the prosecution, the DA, can hand that over to the defense and discovery. Word and mouth is not going to do it, my opinion. Maybe people will disagree with me in the comments. That's my opinion. The whole thing was that the defense was really reaching. So they did point out that one of the people Jade talked to about drugs was Mario Gutierrez,

and Mario was the boyfriend of Lauren Weber. So Lauren was Jade's work friend, and if you remember, the first person who had gone into Jade's apartment that night and taken photos. So I think the defense was trying to do a few things here to raise reasonable doubt. First, drug access, right? If Jade had communicated with Mario about drugs and Mario was closely connected to Lauren, the defense could argue that Jade had access to people in her own social circle who could obtain drugs. That supported their broader reasonable doubt theme. the cocaine did not necessarily have to come from Blaze. Second, scene contamination or alternative access,

because Lauren had been inside the apartment after Jade collapsed, and before the police went in there, the defense could point out that someone closely connected to a person Jade had discussed drugs with, like Mario Gutierrez, who also had access to an unsecured scene, was one of the first people in there, actually the first person, besides Blaze, who would have left with the ambulance. then Lauren Weber goes in, Lauren's Mario's girlfriend.

So they didn't necessarily have to prove that Lauren or Mario had actually planted, moved, or contaminated. Or removed. Or contaminated anything. Yeah. But merely establishing that connection, let them argue that the chain of custody and exclusivity of the scene were weak. So basically, yeah, Blaze was not the only possible source of the cocaine. Like you said, Nijia and Keonti had left before the administrative. of the cocaine, and then the police didn't find any cocaine in the apartment. So therefore,

Blaze must have been the one to bring it. But if Lauren went in after Jade and Blaze left the apartment and before the police went into the apartment, she could have removed, you know, the cocaine or any signs of drug use because it would connect to her boyfriend or her or simply because they wouldn't want Jade to be painted in that way. Well, in that case, if that were true, you would expect Blaze to say, you know, it wasn't the right thing to do, but we decided to have a little bit of Coke before we went, you know, we went to the bedroom or whatever and we, she must have taken too much. That would have been a stronger argument than not acknowledging anything. And the fact that Jade sent that message, or I should say not the message, made that phone call and said, you put something in my drink. There's no more speculation.

Yeah. If Jade had taken something, I truly believe at that point, if she had even called Nijia, she would have said, hey, we took something. It's reacting negatively. I need help. Yeah. She doesn't know in that moment that she's going to die. She's giving you her true thoughts and feelings at that very moment. And when I say she, I'm talking about Jade. And in that moment, whether she knew that Nijia was on the other end or not, whether it was a butt dial, whatever, her words were, did you put something in my drink or what did you put in my drink? She had already speculated that something was there based on the taste. of the drink. But the defense is going to argue, hey, Nijia was somebody who was also trying to get illegal substances. Not that Adderall is illegal, but if you don't have a prescription for it, it is. And we don't know what Jade said on that phone call aside from what Nijia has told us, she said. That's fair. I mean, listen, what you're saying is a valid argument. The problem then becomes the other two pillars of, in my opinion of what you're looking for with a murder case, which is you have the means and the opportunity, but what about the motive here, right?

So we have means and opportunity with Nigeria, so technically two out of three. But what would be her motive for wanting to kill her best friend? What would she gain from that? Where on the other hand, you have a person inside that apartment who's made repeated comments to other parties that they're considering putting an abortion pill inside one of their girlfriend's drinks. And now you have all these text messages showing a man who's doing everything in his power to prevent her from having this baby. Yeah.

So, I mean, when you think about the possibilities, yeah, it's not 100%. It's not like he's on video doing it, but the direction points at him. Listen, exactly. But I'm not arguing with you about it. You know I think Blazed did it. Yeah, yeah, of course. I'm talking about it from like the perspective of a jury hearing these things. I agree.

There may have been some like, well, yeah, Lauren did go in to the apartment. Her boyfriend is Mario. We know he's asking Jade to get him drugs. like maybe Lauren not wanting her boyfriend to be implicated and I think removed something. She said she didn't, but she could have. The question becomes for that jury, is it reasonable enough? There's a reasonable doubt. Is there proof here that suggests maybe something other than what the DA's presenting could have happened here?

And I think clearly they came to the conclusion like, yeah, we get it. There's definitely some little voids that we would like to have filled. But the circumstantial evidence against Blaze is overwhelming. And here's what I think was most unbelievable for the jury to. to see that, that even if there had been drugs around or Jade had access to them, I think that this would have been very difficult for them to believe for a few specific reasons. And we will talk about that when we get back from our break. This episode is brought to you by fume.

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of it. It's made with real wood, real metal. I love the magnets. I love the twisty sounds there. But again, I got to keep it away from the mic when I use it. Plus, it's got some really cool flavors. I will twist it into infinity. I'm twisting that thing all the time. I'm surprised it hasn't worn out yet. I can tell you, we've had it for years and it still works. So that says something. It still works, but you can tell on the wood that my hands go to a certain place on it. And I like that the flavors are lighter than vaping. More like flavored water compared to soda. Crisp mint is the strongest option.

So if you're a heavy user before, I'd probably start there. But they have fruity flavors that I like, too. They've got the raspberry, which is tangier and a little sweeter. And then they have the orange cream single one. That's my favorite. Yeah. So it's not trying to recreate the same experience as trying to give you a different habit altogether. Yeah, exactly.

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baby showers, buying baby things, making mocktails, giving up alcohol, going to the gym, documenting her pregnancy, talking about her future. The people closest to her, testified that once she found out she was pregnant, she went zero on everything, right? She stopped drinking, stop smoking marijuana. So now we're supposed to believe that on February 25th, while pregnant with a baby she very much wanted, Jade suddenly decided to consume an extraordinarily large amount of cocaine and not just like a casual cocaine use, right? Not like, hey, let's have a bump, okay? According to the state's medical evidence, the amount in her system was so high, like a huge amount of cocaine.

So what's the theory here then if Jade willingly and knowingly took this cocaine herself? She had been carefully preparing for motherhood and she randomly decided that this was the night she was going to ingest enough cocaine to put both herself and her unborn child in mortal danger. And then there's the way the cocaine appears to have entered her body. The prosecution's medical evidence pointed toward oral ingestion. If Jade wanted to take cocaine recreationally, why would she dissolve an enormous amount of it into were her own drink. That's not even the most obvious or conventional way that someone voluntarily using cocaine would consume it. It creates an additional question that the defense never really

answered. If Jade knowingly chose to take cocaine, why that much and why that way? The only narrative that is just completely unbelievable, but the only narrative that would fit here would be Jade knew Blaze didn't want to be around. If Blaze wasn't going to be around, then Jade didn't want to be around, so she set him up. She basically put the cocaine in her own drink, purposely called Nigeria to make it look like he did it knowing, hey, listen, I'm going to kill myself and this baby and he's going to go to prison for the rest of his life. Exactly. Your reaction, if you're not listening on, if you're not watching on video, you can see. Stephanie just kind of put up her hands.

There's no indication of any type of suicidal ideations, no suicidal thoughts, no history of self-harm. And she had already told Blaze when he was like, it's me or the baby. She was like, baby. You're gone. You're gone. I'm good without you. Yeah. So that's the only thing that would be somewhat possible here because for all the reasons you just said, to take the cocaine in that manner, to drink it, to take that amount.

None of it makes sense. Unless if my theory about, you know, framing Blaze isn't true, maybe the guy. Except you're actually gone. Maybe the guy who's contemplated putting something in past girlfriend's drinks to have them have an abortion unbeknownst to them. maybe this guy came over after not showing her much attention, came over through something in her drink because he wanted to kill the baby. That's simple. I know it sounds kind of right to the point, but that makes the most sense.

And clearly that's what the jury felt as well. This guy didn't want her to have the baby. He knew that it was going to be an inconvenience for him. He was planning a life with another woman and had made no mention of the baby, which would indicate that he didn't think the baby was going to be around. and then the victim in her last moments calls her best friend and says,

what did you put in my drink over the phone? And the friend has nothing to hide. So, yeah, so there's an overwhelming amount of evidence that indicates Blaze was the one who put the cocaine in her drink and it wasn't until she started to fall ill

that she realized, based on what she had tasted a few minutes prior, holy shit, I know what you did. I know you don't want to have this baby. I've been trying to force you to be okay with it. But in that moment,

she probably realized really quickly what just happened. And look at what Jade was doing that night. She'd planned dinner. She cooked Alfredo. She set up an activity for the two of them. She was happy. They were painting together. They were taking photographs looking like a couple. She'd been trying for weeks to have some kind of relationship with the father of her child. She wanted Blaze involved. She was clearly imagining what their lives might look like together if they could make this work. This was what that night was. So on the exact night, she was creating this almost domestic little picture for Blaze. Like if you and I have this baby, this is where we will be and this is what it'll be like and we can still have fun and we can still enjoy life.

Why would she be doing this and then decide to secretly get catastrophically high on cocaine? What possible purpose would that serve? If anything, this was the night Jade had every reason to want to be completely present. And she wanted Blaze to see her, like she wanted to see this life that she was imagining. She wanted him to see that becoming parents did not have to mean the end of his life. that there could be some good waiting on the other side of this pregnancy. And then within minutes of taking those photographs with him, she's suddenly unable to walk in asking him, what did you put in my drink? Why on this night was she like, I have never done cocaine and I have then completely clean this entire pregnancy.

But this is the night I'm going to take more cocaine than any one human being needs. It just doesn't make any sense. No. So, I mean, theoretically, could Jade have taken the cocaine herself? Yes, you can invent all. almost any theoretical possibility, but I just do not buy it at all, at all. I mean, the only other avenue here would be Nijia and Kianti were at the apartment when Jade was feeling well. And then Nijia did enter that apartment before it was turned into a crime

scene. Yes. So if you're, if you're going down that road, you could argue that where there was intentional or unintentional, maybe something got into Jade's drink from Nijie or Kianti and they went back, she went back after the fact and then removed it. And the defense, of course, did try to try to kind of frame both Nijai J and Kianti as possible people who could have poisoned Jade. Of course they would. No motive, though. The issue was right. And first of all, there's no motive.

Never have there been any, like, bad or bad blood or ill talk between Jade and IJA. No love triangle. Nothing like that. No. And then also, the timing still didn't make sense. No, it didn't add up. Yeah. She would have had to have given it to her while she was there.

And then, yeah, I guess you would have had to have. consumed everything and then it was still that 30 minute time period. So that evidence as far as the timing wouldn't work. No, no. And it makes sense that Blaze would have had to have waited to give her the cocaine until after they left, which lines up with the timeline of her falling ill and then obviously calling Nijia. And it makes a lot more sense that it's exactly what it looks like.

Yeah, but you know what's gross? Like after Nijia left, Blaze was like, oh, you should have told them to stay so we could hang out. Yeah, that's just, yeah. You know, and like, oh, we should get together sometime in the future. like have a double date. Like, what an asshole. Yeah. Oh my God. Okay. So the defense also very much wanted to introduce evidence into the trial that Jade was talking to other men at the time that she was, yeah, she was trying to reunite with Blaze and maybe even pregnant with his child, right? They

wanted to introduce this. And the prosecution was against this, but not for the reason you think. So then it is a possibility that if she interacted with this, it could be that she was looking at dating man. It's possible. I think it infers that she was saving other men. There are other messages that we also believe that she would

save another man in connection with that. And so... What are you speaking of? I'm speaking of in December when she was in fact pregnant and living a clean life, she sent to make photographs to three different men. These things are...

That's not in what you said. It's not because, I did not want to put that type of information into it. But it is important. So here I plan on asking about that. I do plan on asking about that. That's why I'm bringing it to the court's attention now. Because the state has been able to. What other texts are you wanting to introduce to this jury?

Outside of this, I want those text messages. Where are they? In December. I did not want to print out those types of photographs. You're wanting the jury to see them, right? No, do not. I would just like put them to hear about them. That's why I never printed them.

I was not going to print those text messages. Neither did I want to make them a part of the record, but I do want to talk about it. It is only fair that Mr. Taylor, who has been painted as someone who doesn't care, day and other women, while he is with an opinion, that he is not afforded the opportunity to show trash her.

No, they're trashing him, if that's the place. So you want to trash her? No, I want the jury to have all the facts, Your Honor. That is all.

That would be great. If a fact, if in fact is proven. Well, I can tell you those three messages are proven in December. Has the state seen none?

No, Your Honor. The state has not seen none. What if you downloaded or found? I haven't looked at every single thing on her phone, and particularly whether not she's dating men in December when they're broken up.

The state's position isn't irrelevance. That's the first time in seven days I've heard that. Damn. Some drama in that courtroom, huh? It was a lot of drama. But listen. The judge is animated. Here's the point.

They said they've got this app Bumble. Okay? We'll talk about that in a second. And they said in December, when Jade was pregnant, she sent naked photos of herself to three different men. And the judge is like, well, where is this in the evidence? And she's like, well, I didn't want to print those kinds of photos out. Like, I don't want them to be submitted into evidence. But I want the jury to know that it was happening.

And she's like, it's only fair if Blaze has been painted as this person. And then the judge is like, well, now you want to trash her. And she's like, no, I just want the jury to know. And he's like, to trash her. And she's like, no, because it doesn't matter because Blaze and Jade weren't together in December. He didn't come back into her life until New Year's Eve to even talk to her. So who she was sending pictures to. They just wanted the jury to see that Jade was like this type of person.

That she was a human being. Yeah, that she wasn't this chaste like, oh, I'm only devoted to one man. Right. Which she was never painted as that. I don't believe. I have a question and then I have a statement. So the question that I have is at the end of that video where it almost sounds like the judge is giving the prosecution. Like you downloaded this phone and you're bringing up everything in the phone.

at you're thinking that this part isn't relevant. Was that was that your interpretation? Am I reading that wrong? I mean, I think he's just frustrated because the defense wants to introduce something into the trial that's not in the exhibits. And so he wants to know has the prosecution seen them? Because maybe if the prosecution's seen them, then the prosecution can be like, yeah, we've seen them. We have no problem with that being admitted. And the prosecution's like, no, we haven't seen those. Well, we downloaded everything on their phone. Yeah, the police would have all that information, but the prosecution itself would only have access to the exhibits, it's not like the prosecution goes through, you know, line by line everything in Jate's phone because she's the victim.

Right. Yeah. So, so, I mean, it's pretty, I agree with the judge for sure. And I'm surprised he said at this so bluntly, but I appreciate that and I respect it. Essentially, they're viewing their depiction of Blaze as trashing him, right? Because they're pointing out how he has multiple women he's involved with, some of the things he said about these women, some of the things he's tried to arrange in order to facilitate an abortion, that's relevant considering what we're talking about here with which is the death of a woman who is currently pregnant with his baby and he was the last person to be with her. So it's relevant to understand his history and comments that he's made when faced with similar situations. The judge is saying here, we understand why that's being brought

up. And yeah, it does make him look like trash because he is. However, to bring up her sexual history or if she's sending text messages or nudes to other men, how does that relate to her murder or her death? We know that these guys, these guys that she sent the nudes to, were they there? Were they present that night? Were they facilitating drug deals between her?

So even if she's sending nudes to a hundred men, they physically weren't at the apartment that night and did not give her the cocaine. So there's no point to bringing that up other than trying to trash her. Character assassination. That's all you're trying to do. That's all you're trying to do here. Even if you're able to show that she was engaging in sexual relationships with these men, they weren't present that night. The reason why Blaze's sexual history and his past and the comments he's made is relevant is because he's described a similar behavior that is what the prosecution is alleging in this case.

Yes. Simple. It's not that complicated. So, yeah, the judge is calling the defense out because we know the photos exist. Nobody's stipulating that. Nobody's disputing that. And so, yeah, you bring them up. Congratulations. She sent nudes to a couple guys after Blaze was giving her the runaround.

And for a while there, wasn't in the picture. That was during the time he wasn't in the picture. Yeah, he popped back up. And she wanted to be with him. She wanted to be with the father of her child. But is she supposed to sit at home and not have any type of romantic relationship with anyone? And she's sending nudes to people. Yeah, I mean, listen, there's always a risk when you do that, but there's nothing wrong with it either.

I mean, it's clear to me that the defense simply wanted the jury to have this impression of Jade, that even when she was pregnant with another man's child, she had no problem sending naked photos of herself to other men. So be it. And you can have a problem with that from a character perspective. Like if you're a jury member and you don't agree with that, that's fine. But if you're focusing on the facts of the case, that history, that behavior doesn't change the outcome of this situation whatsoever. Unless you can prove that one of those individuals you're going to bring up was. also present that night and may have had an issue with Blaze being there, but they weren't. But I can only assume that they were hoping someone on the jury or more than someone on the jury was like, ew, I don't like that. Yeah, someone has like a strong belief. Yeah, I'm with you. That was the intent.

That was the intent for sure. And they try to paint it like they're good people because they're not going to show the photos. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah. Well, yeah. Like, she's like, I didn't print them out because I didn't want those kind of pictures, but I want the jury to know about them. Like, I need the jury to know that Jade was bad.

You know, I need them to know that, like, Blaze isn't the only dog here. And that's gross. I love that. I love that the judge was like, so you want to trash her? Yeah, I like. And he's like, she's like, no, no, I don't want to trash her, but he's been trashed. And he's like, so now you want to trash the other side. You want to trash the victim.

Yeah. I got you. It was great. It was great. So then they talked about Bumble, right? Basically, they could see that Jade. That's how we met. Bumble.

Joking. Joking. Well, it's joking. It's funny because they. I hit you up to say. Do you want to do Crime Weekly podcast? On Bumble. On Bumble.

Apparently, like, they had Eric Devlin up there, and Eric Devin was like, well, it's a place where you can meet friends. Shut up. The defense was like, yeah, but that's not what it's used for. Is it? He's like, well, that's what, you know, some people use it for that. Yeah, shut up. Get out of here with that.

But this was the defense's own witness, their own forensic expert. And he was like, yeah, it's like technically supposed to be so you can meet friends in your area. Yeah. So you can meet up with people if you want to date, but more importantly, if you want to hook up. Yeah. That is what Bumble is no. for. They were showing that Jade was still interacting with Bumble on her phone after she and

Blaze had reunited. They found out that Jade had downloaded the app on February 17th and February 22nd of 2023. Now, the defense could not prove that Jade was using it for dating at the time that she was with Blaze in a relationship, nor could they prove that she used it at all, just that her phone had opened the app. Once again, am I supposed to care about this? No. Who gives a shit? They weren't even technically in a relationship. They were just trying to see it. if they could co-parent together. And, you know, she was obviously, I think she was sensing from Blaze

that he was like not interested in her. No, listen, listen, she's a pregnant woman. She's not going out a lot. She's not going to social environments where there's a lot of drinking going on because she can't participate. So there's an app that is known for meeting new people, potentially dating,

and she's looking for companionship. She's probably lonely. And so she engaged with this app because it was accessible from her house. She doesn't have to get dressed. and go out. She can stay home and be safe in her own, her own place.

Zero problems with it. Zero. And just for the disclaimer for Bumble, I know Bumble's trying to re kind of change their image where they're doing like Bumble events. Yeah. Where it's not a hookup dating app. It's more for dating.

You know, it's not just for sex. So I will say for the record, I don't have Bumble and I don't know what it's used for these days. But my understanding is that most of the time it's used for, hookups. More Tinder than eHarmony. Yeah. And I even see this is we can go down this road and we're going to have people in the comments. We're going to be able to give us my understanding is like Bumble is like hookups. Tender is like a combination and then there's hinge. Really, Tinder is more of a combination than Bumble. Yeah. Tinder is like a little bit on the middle. But to be honest with you,

from where I'm sitting and I know people won't agree with me. All three of them are kind of like for hooking up. Is it like shows in your location like where people are close to you, right? I have buddies who are on Hinge and on Tinder and stuff, and they're like... He's just asking for a friend, guys. Yeah, they're not using it to, you know, to meet their wife, usually. Probably why they don't have wife. That's why they're single in their late 30s. And they know who they are.

Sorry, guys. Calling you out. Sorry, not sorry. There was also text messages between Jade and a man named Gerius Porter. And they took place on December 17th of 2022. And it's clear that Jade and Darius maybe had gone on a few dates. Maybe we're dating. He says he's trying to get back in shape. He said, I'm trying to get back in the shape I was before I started dating a world-class chef. So clearly they considered themselves to sort of be dating. But this was still far after Jade had ended things with Blaze on November 6th, 2022. The text exchanged between Jade and Darius after she and Blaze reconnected at the end of December, they seemed way more friendship-based. And so on Jay and January 25th, Gerius texted Jade, quote, that's good. I'm glad you have two. I'm just honestly sad, but I know I won't be forever and God makes no mistakes. Glad you feeling better. End quote.

Jade told Jarius that she knew it hurt, but they could talk about his feelings and she just wanted to make sure he was taking care of himself, not going down a path of drinking and smoking more in order to heal. Jarius told Jade that he was working out as well. And Jade said she understood working out's good, but she still wanted him to slow down on the other stuff. Jade is even talking to Jarius about Blaze, such as on January 10th when she told him that Blaze had signed up for a diaper subscription. And on January 25th, when Jarius asked if Blaze rubbed her belly, and Jade said, quote, sometimes, end quote, you know, Blaze didn't rub her belly. Okay. So Jarius was aware of Blaze in Jade's life. And he was aware also that she was pregnant. And there were no inappropriate

text between them after Blaze and Jade got back together. And yeah, am I thinking Jarius is hanging around hoping. Hoping. Hoping Blaze messes up again and Jade's, and he's there already. Yes. He's there to pick up the pieces. Yeah, for sure. It definitely wasn't innocent on his part.

He's like, does Blaze rub your belly? Because I would, you know. Give 1,000 percent. I mean, listen, and sometimes we make the mistake of assuming every communication happens through text. There's probably some verbal communication as well where Jade let Gerius know that, unfortunately, this wasn't going to go any further than a platonic relationship. Was the father of her baby.

He was back. Yeah, he was coming back. And so it sounds like Jade was doing exactly what a woman in her position would do. Yeah, I think, I think that she's doing the right thing. She started to move on from Blaze and then coincidentally, he came back around. Shocker. Wonder why. She's not sending naked photos to men while they're together.

She's not talking to someone else secretly like he was. No, I mean, and still, and this will, not everyone will love this, but even if she was, even if they were like starting to talk again and she was like actively talking to Blaze and potentially about getting back together and but they weren't living together yet and she was still keeping her options open by talking to other men. I personally still don't give a shit because as it relates to the case, unless you can prove that those men were jealous of Blaze, were in that apartment before during and after the crime, it's irrelevant to the actual matter at hand.

So I don't, this character stuff, it's only for one thing and one thing only, which the judge rightly pointed out. It's to trash the victim to hopefully get one jury member on that jury to say, you know what, for me personally, I think Jade was a piece of shit. But you couldn't even really show that, right? You couldn't even show that. Yeah, but that's what the defense is hoping for. The fact of the matter is, even if she'd been doing that, you and I wouldn't have cared because she was clearly trying to get a deeper commitment from Blaze. Like, let's go on trips together. he wasn't giving it to her.

So if you're not giving someone a commitment, why would you expect commitment from them in return? No, if anything. I want her to move on. Send more nudes. Send them to everybody. Find someone who's not Blaze Taylor. I'm okay with it.

Yeah. Well, I think Blaze thought one day I'm going to be rich, and that's when she's going to pop back up. Yeah. That's probably what he's thinking. With the baby. Yeah. Oh, no doubt.

Even if she finds someone else moves on, he doesn't hear from her for five years. She's going to reach out for child support. It's going to be when he becomes the coach of the Dallas Cowboys that she's now going to reach out and be like, like, and you owe me for the last five years. I agree. And I also think a lot of athletes are conditioned to believe that.

We talked about that probably in episode one or two where he was a high profile athlete in college, not like a D1, like going first round, but he was someone who had the potential to maybe go NFL. And, you know, your condition that there are women out there who will try to, quote, unquote, trap you by having a baby with you so that when you make millions of dollars, you're on the hook. And so they're conditioned to believe that these women all have these malicious and adjudiced. and agendas when in reality. I mean, first of all, for somebody who was conditioned like that, you should probably have used a condom then.

No, no doubt. That was a lot of our comments, by the way. And number two, I don't think Jade would have done that because. No, no, no, it didn't seem that way. Blaise probably would have eventually gotten a really good coaching job with, like, a good NFL team because he had the family connections through his father, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he probably would have gotten to that level where she may have, you know, he would have

floundering. He was kind of screwed. He kind of went down, down. down after the Titans. Daddy would make sure he stayed a blow. Don't worry. Don't worry. Trooper would have been there. I mean, from whatever we understand,

we could be wrong on this, but it doesn't seem like even though Blaze didn't want to be around the baby, when Jade gave him an ultimatum and he said he didn't want to be around, she cut ties with him. And she wasn't reaching out saying, hey, I need money for this or that. She was doing it on her own. Yeah. I don't think she would have popped back up,

no matter how much money he made. Because by that time, by that time, it would have been like, to her and her child, Blaze Taylor didn't exist. I don't think she would have wanted to do that. Right. And if she did, she has the right to do that as well. You're having unprotected sex, then, you know, you're going to pay the price. Yeah, I think that's what his fear was, which is dumb because then wear a condom if you're so worried.

I agree. I agree. That's the whole reason why you wouldn't want the baby. It would be financial in nature. You don't want to have to pay for child support. Yeah. All right. Let's take a quick break.

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Talk-I-Aidri.com slash crime weekly. So the defense called toxicologist Dr. Chansey Chun-Lindsay, who challenged several aspects of the state science. One major issue was Jade's hospital blood sample. It had been collected in a tube without the preservative normally used to stabilize cocaine. We talked about this, and that matters because cocaine degrades relatively quickly in blood. The state's medical examiner had effectively tried to account for that degradation using the metabolites present in the sample. but the defense argued that the science could not reliably reconstruct exactly how much cocaine jade originally had in her system or how it got there.

The defense also attacked the comforter testing. Obviously, the comforter had not remained inside a secured crime scene. A family friend removed it, bagged it, and later it entered police custody. Testing reportedly found cocaine, fentanyl, and cocaethylene on it. But the defense expert pointed to contamination and methodological problems and argued. that the concentrations could not be relied upon in the way the prosecution wanted. So basically they're saying, we don't know how much cocaine she had in her system because the way you're trying to figure this out isn't as exact and accurate. Therefore, it was almost like the defense was like, therefore, throw out all that testing. All we can really say is Jade had cocaine in her system. You can't say it was a lot.

But based on what happened to her, it was a lot. And they pushed the fentanyl issue. The defense argued that fentanyl appearing in some of the. evidence complicated the state's toxicological narrative and raised questions about what substances were present and when. Prosecutors countered that Jade received fentanyl during her hospital treatment and maintained that there was no evidence

she had fentanyl in her system before arriving at Vanderbilt. A particularly important defense objective appears to abend to suggest that the amount of cocaine alleged by the state would have been difficult to secretly put into a drink without Jade noticing, which we did talk about that as well. Their toxicologist was questioned about whether someone could consume that much cocaine unknowingly. However, the prosecution objected to part of that line of questioning and the judge sustained the objection. And I pause here because I do have to be fair.

Realistically, we're talking about a very large amount of cocaine hydrochloride dissolved into probably a relatively small drink. And we would expect it to be noticeable in some way. Not if she was in, like I had said, the pink cup. which would have had that like filtered kind of like plastic like somewhat transparent glass or plastic but not completely see through. You wouldn't see if the water or whatever was in there was foggy at that point. You wouldn't see it cloudy. I mean, if it was fully dissolved, you might not even necessarily see anything, right?

But the bigger giveaway would be the taste. An unusually large concentration like this would probably make the taste of the drink bitter or medicinal. And also produce. reduce oral numbness, like your lips, your tongue, they start to feel numb. So whether Jade would have immediately recognized that sensation as cocaine is a different question. Someone unfamiliar with the cocaine might be like, oh, maybe this drink tastes strange. My lips feel weird, but not really understand why it was tasting weird or that her lips felt like numb. But we do have Jade on the phone call telling Blaze that she knew her drink had tasted funny. And I bet you that, because I've

never done cocaine. I'm going to just be straight with you, okay? I've never done cocaine. And I don't know how often people like put it in their mouth. I've seen in movies where they'll like dip their hand into the bag and like put it on their tongue or something, I think to test it. But does it, it doesn't make your tongue or your lips numb? I would assume so. I have done that. Undercover capacity. I don't. you have. Yeah, I, um, I don't recall having my tongue go numb when I did it, no. Or like your lips or anything? No. Well, I mean, even if. I'm talking small amounts. I've also, again, I don't mind telling you guys. I've also snorted the Coke, like where we're testing it and they give you, you know,

take a little spoon or your fingertip or your fingernail and you do a little bump to make sure it's like what it's supposed to be. And that, even that takes a couple minutes to hit you. Does that like, I get like a stinging, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You get like a stinging, yeah, you get a little bit of a, ooh, okay, I'm awake. There's some sort of sensation. But I wonder if she may have even mentioned to Blaze, like, as they were continuing their paintings, like, hey, my mouth feels weird. Like, I wonder if I ate something that I'm having a reaction to.

I think that's what happened. I think that she probably had a couple of sips and was like, oh, that doesn't taste perfect. That doesn't taste right. And then within a couple minutes, I think that phone call was made. I don't think it was like 20 minutes later where, because her hands and she was starting to get numbness at that point. I think almost within a few minutes of her starting to feel something she called. Because she was still standing upright when she called Nigeria.

Yes. And I mean, we know that like in those pictures she was taking with Blaze, this would have been shortly before the effects of that really hit. But she would have been feeling something. Yeah. She might have verbally sent something like, oh, that don't taste good. I'm not drinking anymore. Or I'm starting to feel weird.

Or, you know, I wonder if I ate something. I wonder if that's where he got the allergic reaction thing to. Because sometimes I'll eat something and I still to this day don't know what it is, but I'll eat something, and then my lip feels like numb and weird, and it'll start swelling. And that's when I'll be like, oh, shoot, I ate that thing. And I don't know what it is, but I ate that thing that causes that weirdness. And I'll say it to, like, the people I'm with like, oh, this just happened, you know, like, my lip feels weird. Is it swelling? And they'll be like, yeah. So I guarantee she was saying something. And he was just like, oh, yeah, no, you're fine. You're fine. So the prosecution

portrayed Blaze as a man who did not want this pregnancy and wanted it gone. The defense tried to Yeah. The defense tried to show that whatever Blaze had initially felt in November of 2022, things had changed by early 2023. They pointed to the fact that he had resumed communicating with Jade and argued that their relationship had become more serious and that he was moving towards accepting fatherhood, which I think is ridiculous because we have those messages between him and Xavier the night before. I was just going to say, does Xavier know that they're saying this? Because Xavier wasn't in the impression that, hey, we're going to move forward in our relationship, but I got a baby on the way. He had a baby. Mama that I'm not to take care of. What about Blaze to the defense team shows he was moving towards fatherhood at this time? The defense attorney, she characterized the state's theory that Blaze would kill Jade and Ivy simply because he didn't want to become a father as an enormous leap. They also used Blaze's behavior that night very defensively.

He called 911. He remained with Jade. He went to the hospital. The defense argued that these were not the actions you would expect from somebody who had just intentionally poisoned woman and was trying to ensure that she died. I would argue. How about the actions of someone who was trying to make it look as if they didn't intentionally poison her?

If he hadn't done those things, it'd be even more suspicious. What's he supposed to do? Run away? Yeah. Oh, I don't know what happened, but I don't have no part of it. I'm leaving. And we also have information that suggests he maybe didn't stay with her the entire time when she wasn't feeling well.

And what, the ambulance pulls up and he's like, you guys got her now? All right, great. I have a date with Xavier. I got to go. And also, I would. would argue that maybe his actions were of a person who wanted to make sure that Jade was in a coma and could not talk and could not say anything. So that's why he was at the hospital being all nervous. Right. If he's there, he can fill in the narrative for her. Or at least he knows what's about to happen. You know, he knows they could say, oh, we think she's going to wake up or we think she's not going to wake up. He's got the information. He's got that inside information that he wouldn't have if he left the hospital because nobody there's going to talk to him. I'm sure he's panicking a little bit too because if they're able to give her something that allows her to wake up. up, what was the last thing she said before she stopped talking? Uh-huh.

What'd you put in my drink? Well, Blaze claims to the police, he didn't hear her say any of that stuff. Oh, of course, he didn't. I'm just saying if we're to believe the impartial person here, Nigea, one of her last statements were, what did you put in my drink? So what do you think one of her first statements is going to be if she wakes up? Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying.

He knew that. Yeah, of course. He knew that she would be like Blaze did this and then it's over if she woke up. So the defense also tried to like put his behavior after Jade collapsed into context as well. So the prosecutors were like, hey, he went back to work. He wasn't late. He was normal. He didn't tell anybody that his girlfriend was lying on life support.

The day his daughter died, he didn't tell anybody. He was fine. And the prosecution said that's like emotional detachment. You know, he did his job of wiping Jade and Ivy out and he doesn't feel bad about it. So he's not like showing any different kind of behavior. And the defense was like, no, people process trauma differently. Which is true. Yes.

But they also said that Blaze sought out the Titans mental health resource after the incident, like the therapist for the team. And that was true. But that therapist couldn't testify to what Blaze had talked about with her during their session. So, I mean, for all we know. Talked about his relationship with Xavier. Oh, yeah. For all we know, he could go in and be like, I'm thinking about leaving the team. and I have another job, you know, interview.

And that's what, for all we know, it could have nothing to do with Jade. Right. And if it did have something to do with Jade, then would it still be like, oh, I'm so sad that she's on life support. You didn't tell anybody you had a girlfriend. You weren't going into the Titans

while Jade was on life support and being like somebody I care about, even if you didn't say girlfriend, a friend of mine I care about very deeply, is like hanging on for dear life by a thread. None of that. So on July 1st, 2026, after closing arguments, the jury began deliberating just before noon, and they reached a verdict very

quickly. They reported that they had a verdict after roughly two to two and a half hours. So, yeah, that's pretty quick. The verdict was slightly more complicated, though, than simply guilty on everything. For Jade's death, the jury did not convict Blaze of first-degree premeditated murder. Instead, they convicted him of the lesser included offense of second-degree murder while also finding him guilty of first-degree felony murder in Jade's death. For Ivy's death, however, they convicted him a first-degree premeditated murder as well as first-degree felony murder. Yeah.

So I completely agree with that. Yeah. So basically they're saying his whole goal was to kill Ivy. 1000%. So it wasn't premeditated in killing Jade, but the felony murder charge, I think, would kind of suggest that it was like he didn't care if he did. I think it was the actions. after she fell ill, like the inaction.

The intent wasn't to kill her initially, but once she fell ill, there was a lack of action to prevent her from dying. And the only reason he made the call was because he at some point realized that she had called Nigeria. Yeah, so basically the jury unanimously agreed that the prosecution hadn't proved premeditation as to Jade herself, but they were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Blaze was criminally responsible for Jade's death. And when it came to Ivy.

We've talked about it. You know, we can call him a piece of shit and he deserves to be in prison. I do think there is at least at minimum a lack of evidence to suggest that his intent originally was to kill Jade. Okay, but here's my question. Okay. Okay. You give Jade all this cocaine. She has a miscarriage.

Right. At no point is she going to be like, what the hell happened to me and how is there cocaine in my system? Maybe. Or I think, again, I'm trying to rationalize the irrational here, but this dumbass, in my, just in my head, I'm thinking he thought he could give her a dose of cocaine that would cause internal damage to the baby, killing the baby, but she wouldn't realize that she had killed the baby until maybe a week or two later when there was health complications. And she wouldn't be able to pinpoint what caused it, right? We know. So you think he was hoping it would just happen at home and then she wouldn't know. She would have a miscarriage because of the cocaine and then he could come in as a night and shining armor and go, oh my God, I'm so sorry that happened.

I was actually looking forward to this baby after we've talked it out. It doesn't make sense to you or I or everybody else listening right now. But I think in his mind, that's what his best case scenario was. I don't think there's any world where he was like, oh, man, I'm going to give her a ton of cocaine tonight. I'm going to almost kill her, but I'm hoping they can save her, but not the baby. Because he has to know that if it happens in that moment, he's going to be the primary suspect. He needs it to be something that occurs over a week or two where he's not the prime person with her at the time when it occurs. That's what I'm saying.

If that's what you wanted, why use so much cocaine? He's a dumb ass. I can't just say he's a dumb ass. I think he intended to kill them both. Okay. I mean, I don't think you're going to be the only one who thinks that. I don't. And I don't even know that he didn't intend to kill them both. But then we also have to acknowledge that in his mind, he thought he could kill Jade within an, you know, if he was really prepped for this, he would have known that she was going to have a overdose right there in front of him. And then he would have to explain to law enforcement how she had an overdose in his presence when they didn't take any cocaine. I totally agree with you. It doesn't make sense. But if you're not trying to cause something to happen right then and there that is catastrophic and needs to have her being rushed to a hospital, why are you using so much cocaine? Maybe he didn't expect her to drink the whole drink. Maybe he thought, I'm going to put all this cocaine in a drink and maybe she'll only drink some of it. I don't know, but you're taking a risk here that I think you're going into this plan with she could die too, but I don't care.

Yeah. Well, I definitely want to hear your guys' thoughts on that one because I don't necessarily know what happened. I think the evidence says one thing. Stephanie has strong opinions on this. Pause this episode right now. Let us know what you think because we're at that point where we can really discuss it. You have most of the facts. Do you believe that Blaze went into this night with the full intention of I'm going to kill Jade? And by killing Jade, then I kill the baby. And then I can go be with Xavier and there's no issues. No, I'm going to kill the baby. And by killing the baby, that might mean killing Jade and I'm okay with that. Okay, that you're okay with. So the intent, so what you're saying is his intent wasn't to kill her. He just didn't care if it did. He didn't care if it did, but why use that much cocaine and not understand that it's going to have some serious effects? Yeah. So it's like you said, right? I mean, he could have put a massive amount in there not knowing that she was going to drink as much as she did. And his plan was to get rid of the Coke afterwards. So he put a ton in there, hoping she would get a couple good sips. And then he

could get rid of the rest. But maybe she drank, like you said, more than he anticipated and he overcalculated. He or he miscalculated. And because of it, she died as well. I almost wonder if he didn't, if he intentionally didn't look anything up about cocaine because he didn't want that to be in his history. Of course. Yeah, that would make sense. And so therefore he was just like, well, just throw a ton in there. But I wish they could locate because he had to buy it from someone. He had to buy it from somewhere. Yes. And that amount of cocaine. And I'm sure they tried. Yeah. that amount of cocaine wouldn't be cheap, but you're not going to have anybody who comes forward right now and raises their hand and says, oh, I actually sold a large amount of cocaine to Blaze Taylor.

No shot. They're not going to do that, even though that person's out there has seen what happened and is like, oh, shit, right? So they're not going to do that. But was there some sort of cash withdrawal that was pretty large in his bank account? Because it would have been, you know, a pretty good amount. I would be interested in knowing that. But either way, let's take our last break. We'll be right back. All right, we're back from breaking again. Just to reiterate, because I think we went off on a tangent a little bit there. We were talking, we had our side quest. Let us know what you think. Do you think this was, as Stephanie says, where he was intending on killing the baby, didn't care of Jade died, or do you think it's a premeditated murder where his intent from the beginning was to kill the baby and Jade? I lean more toward a third option, which is he thought he was smart enough to administer the

right amount of cocaine where she would have, she would have complications with the pregnancy because of the cocaine. And he was hoping in some perfect world, those complications wouldn't actually wear their ugly head until a few days later where he would get a call from her saying, you know, I looked in the toilet and there's a bunch of blood and I don't know what happened. And then he could come in and be like, oh, my God, look at this. That's terrible. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you went through this. And that would be the end of it. Yeah, but she's not going to notice she's experienced like when you're taking cocaine you experience things right yeah but we're talking about a guy who clearly is not intelligent i know i keep calling him a dumb ass and i'm not saying

it for story purposes there are some criminals who are smart and still get caught this is not a smart criminal he he was doing things supposedly smart right now for what book smart yeah i guess like i mean okay smart enough to do your research right but when you're desperate you do make desperate decisions and sometimes make mistakes that you would otherwise not make. And I think he felt like, just like with alcohol or drugs, that's why they say don't take alcohol or drugs when you're pregnant, because it could lead to a miscarriage. I think he was hoping he could give her a small enough amount

that she would ingest it and she would be fine that night. And yet maybe even the next day she would have an issue and he would be scot-free on this because she wouldn't pick up on it. He didn't anticipate her tasting it. That's number one. He did not anticipate her having a reaction to it when she drank it. That was definitely not planning, whether he intended on killing her or not. You don't want her to take a sip and go, oh, my God, what did you put in my drink? Right. So that wasn't

the plan. We know that wasn't on the table for him. And then I don't think that he planned for her to have a reaction to it as quick as she did. He's still sitting in there with her. That doesn't give him a lot of outs. So he definitely miscalculated on on multiple things, different degrees. And that's, That's why he got convicted of the crime. Yeah, well, I don't know, man. It just feels how would you not, how would you not expect her to have some sort of signs that she's high on cocaine?

Let us know what you guys think. Honestly, let us give us your opinion as how you came to that conclusion. You know, do you think, what do you think, what do you think, what do you think, well, we know what happened, but what do you think Blaise's original intention was? What's he thinking in his head? Yeah. How is he, how does he see this playing out in his mind? There's no wrong answer.

So please let us know. Well, because some of the convictions were first-degree murder convictions, there was a separate punishment proceeding before the same jury. The state sought life without the possibility of parole. Jade's family gave emotional testimony during this phase, and Blaise's mother testified for the defense. And this is where she gets up and she's like, Blaze is a good boy. He was the smartest ever. And everybody always wanted to be like him and all the other parents. They wanted him to be their son. That was a weird display.

I love the accident. Yeah, I don't know why she's British all of a sudden. She's British, okay. She seems like she would be like that. It's because I'm going to London. Well, actually, as this episode's out, I'm in London right now. So, oh, you sound like you're from London. Blaze himself chose not to testify, which I'm actually surprised by.

But at that point, it's like to try to charm somebody, you know, do something, do what you can. The jury then deliberated again over punishment. The jury rejected life without parole and recommended, life with the possibility of parole instead. Now, that did not mean that Blaze was about to have some realistic chance of walking out of prison anytime soon. It established the type of life sentences attached to those first-degree convictions. So after July 1st, Blaze was convicted, but the court still had several sentencing questions to resolve, particularly how the multiple convictions would merge and whether the sentences for Jade and Ivy would run concurrently or consecutively.

That's a big one. Yeah. So do you want to explain the difference between concurrent and consecutive just in case? Well, concurrent. And we've talked about it before. I forgot what case it was recently. But if you get charged, just to say for the sake of this example, 10 years and 10 years for two separate charges, if it's concurrent, you're basically serving both terms at the same time. So in reality, it's only 10 years. If it's consecutive, well, you're going to do your first 10 years for the first charge and then you're going to do another 10 years for the second charge.

So it's a big difference. You're talking double the amount of time. Oh, it was the crash. Crash. Oh, McKenzie Shrillia. There we go. That was the one where she got, she got consecutive, I believe. I'm sorry, she might have got concurrent. I can't even remember. You guys will correct me in the comments, but that's the distinction. You could be sure of that. Yes, yes. So Judge Steve Dozer held the final sentencing hearing at September 9th, so just this month, actually.

One of the technical issues was that Blaze had been convicted under two theories for each death. and Tennessee law does not simply allow four separate murder punishments for two victims, so some of those counts had to merge. For Jade, second-degree murder and felony murder, those ultimately merged into the conviction covering Jade's death. For Ivy, first-degree premeditated murder and felony murder, those also merged into the conviction covering Ivy's death. Judge Dozer nevertheless imposed 22 years at 100% on the second-degree murder count involving Jade before merging it into the felony murder conviction. The state had requested 25 years. One aggravating factor the judge gave considerable weight to was abuse of a position of private trust.

Essentially, Jade trusted Blaze enough to allow him into her home and believe they were working towards some kind of future surrounding the pregnancy. And I love this for the judge because that is the ultimate betrayal, right? Like it's horrible. What he did was illegal. What he did was bad. But like, as far as Jade's concerned, like, you assumed this man had good. intentions, he made you assume that based on what he was telling you, you let him into your home. You let a wolf into the hen house, basically. So, but the huge issue was whether the two life

sentences, one for Jade and one for Ivy, would be served at the same time or one after another. Now, Judge Dozier made them consecutive. That's a big one. His reasoning was unusually explicit. He essentially asked, if the sentence for killing Ivy ran at the same time as the sentence for killing Jade, what additional punishment would there actually be for Ivy's death? His answer was effectively none. Agreed. He concluded that each death warranted its own punishment and ordered the life sentences to run back to back. So the final sentence became two consecutive life sentences with the

22-year second-degree murder sentence attached to the Jade count, but merging into that murder conviction. In practical terms, WSMV reported that the consecutive life sentences alone meant that Blaze would have to serve approximately 102 years before potential release eligibility, making the distinction between life and life without parole essentially pointless. It's pointless in real world terms. Like, he'll never be out. He's going to be in present for life. I'm assuming he's in his late 20s, early 30s at this point. Yes, he's in his, he's in his early 30s. There you go. So after sentencing, Blaise's attorney said the defense intends to appeal. She characterized the sentence as harsh and continued to criticize what she regard as problems with the trial and the strength of the state's case.

So as of September 25th, as of today, the status is Blaise Taylor has been convicted. He has been formally sentenced to two consecutive life terms. He's no longer awaiting sentence. And the next major phase is the appellate process, the appeals process. And we talked about it a little bit, but the defense does have several things it can actually attack on appeal. There's no doubt about it. First of all, the Apple Denny testimony about the prior pregnancy and the Xavier situation, that's a big one, the handling and contamination of the crime scene, dispute over the toxicology, evidentiary rulings involving Jade's phone and the dating, drug-related material. And also, there's potential sentencing issues.

So I'm going to focus on the two things that are the most important, which are the most important, which are, I think is, and where I think the defense has the most chance of getting an appeal. And I think that's the Apple Denny testimony and the sentencing. So the Apple Denny testimony may be one of the more interesting appellate issues. The defense can frame her testimony as extremely prejudicial because she alleged that years earlier, Blaze had discussed secretly putting abortion medication into Xavier's drink. The appellate question, so the question on the appeal would be whether the judge properly admitted that evidence under Tennessee evidence rules governing prior acts. And we talked about this in the Harmony Montgomery case where, remember, isn't that basically the reason that Adam Montgomery

got things overturned and he's in the position he's in because they were like, well, you can't introduce these prior acts and then show them to the jury. That was something that got him a whole new trial. Exactly. And especially with that Adam Montgomery case being so recent, I think that Blaise's defense is going to really focus on this. Like, why bring Appledanian here to talk about something that happened years before Blaise Taylor even knew Jade? Would that be considered a prior bad act that doesn't have anything to do with what happened to Jade? I know you're not asking me this, but even with Adam Montgomery, there was an abuse case against him. And we're talking about him murdering his own daughter. So I think it's completely relevant. Best predictor of future behaviors, past behavior. Same thing here. But the appellate

court gave him. I get it, but that's the thing. That's what we know about courts, right, depending on where it is and who's overseeing it. It's subjective. It's not a science, right? I think in this case, the argument should be made that him making these comments to Apple about Xavier are very relevant to modus operandi, right? How he conducts himself, how he would administer something like this in order to avoid this pregnancy in order to avoid the birth of this child. He's already contemplated it in the past before ever. meeting Jade or before, you know, I don't know if he had met Jade at that point. No, he had not, no. So he's already talking about a similar conduct that he's now being accused of after the fact.

I think it's extremely relevant. And I do think it's a big part of why the jury came to the conclusion they did. And we thought the fact that Adam Montgomery had been in harmony before and found a way to avoid CPS was also relevant to him murdering her. I couldn't disagree with that ruling more. Yeah. Couldn't disagree with it more. And you know what?

if you keep it out, there are problems with this case, but I don't know if that alone would be the reason that it would result in a different outcome, but you never know. You never know. And this defense team is going to try everything they can to appeal this because the sentence also gives the defense something to grab onto. Judge Dozier ordered the two life sentences to run consecutively. That creates the functional equivalent of spending the rest of Blaise's life in prison. And his attorneys can challenge whether the statutory findings support consecutive. sentences, like, was that established? Even winning a sentencing issue would not necessarily erase the murder convictions. It could simply result in resentencing. Consacitive would be a lot better than,

I mean, he's still going to be in his 70s, probably, or 60s when he gets, when he's eligible for parole, but it's, it doesn't guarantee that he dies behind bars. Yeah. I mean, if you, if you even go to consecutive because they want parole, the parole board could still deny. They're 100% and they probably will. I don't know if they will, honestly. I shouldn't say that. You never know, right? Because Blaze is so young that by the time he's like in his 60, 70s, the parole board may be like, well, what's the harm? He's not going to poison. He can't get anybody pregnant. So nobody's not safe with him because that seems to be the only people that he goes after. And also if they look at the facts of the case, as we pointed out, there are problems with this investigation. There are definitely, this is definitely not an ironclad report that we're looking at here. There were things that were left out. The actual processing of the scene. was not done correctly. They never recovered the cup. They never tested the cup. They weren't even

able to come and say like, here, Blaze purchased cocaine. That would have been, that would have been compelling. Yeah. I think this was the right decision. I think the circumstantial evidence in this case was more than we see in some cases where they've gotten a conviction. You have an impartial party in Nigeria relaying the last words of the victim to us, which you don't often get. So at the end of the day, I think those words are ultimately why Blaze was convicted. Jade got the final word and was able to get justice for herself and her daughter. However, I will also add here that I'm concerned. I'm concerned with an appeal. This is not the best case we've ever covered as far as tying up all the loose ends. And I don't want to go as far as saying that the prosecution

and the police department was lucky, but they're fortunate. I'll just say that. So I kind of feel like this is one of those things where any normal sane person would look at this and be like, we know what happened here. Yeah. Yeah, the writing's on the wall. Right. But then you got to go to court and they have to present evidence and show how an investigation was done. And there's enough holes there where it doesn't even matter if a jury, you could put five juries in front of this case. And they probably all come up with the same logical explanation. Blaze Taylor did this and we know why. But if the. The strength of the case from a legal and judicial perspective isn't there. An appeal is so, so likely. If Adam Montgomery can get his appeal approved, then literally anybody can at this point. So that is also my concern.

I feel like as a logical person, you know what happened, but with so many holes, not being able to find anything that had cocaine in it, not being able to say, here's where he purchased cocaine, basically no murder weapon, not any victim alive. to be able to say, I saw him turn his back to me and he took a spoon out and he stirred it. It is hard. And the possibility of him winning an appeal is very strong. So that is my concern. And we shall see what happens.

We will keep you updated. Winning an appeal or being granted, being granted the appeal. What are you saying going to another trial and winning? Well, so I can only theorize as to what kind of appeal the defense would put forth at this point, right? Right. You can't just do it to do it. to have a reasoning behind it. But if they're able to say the Apple Denny stuff shouldn't have been involved because

of prior bad acts and that shouldn't count, that could mean a new trial. And at that new trial, without that, is it as compelling? I don't know. I don't know. I don't think so. I don't know. Let us know what you guys think about that as well. Do you think that's enough to tip the scale where all of a sudden, without that statement

from Apple, do we think that was the key witness here? I personally think it was Nijia and her relaying her account of what was said on the phone call. And then in conjunction with that, the text messages. Anybody who has any, you know, IQ at all can read those text messages and read between the lines and hindsight what he was doing, what he was thinking, what he was feeling, and what he was trying to accomplish. And to think that he just had a sudden change of heart is unlikely based on his past history. Now, that wouldn't be able to bring in the Apple conversation, but you could still bring. bring in conversations that Apple had with him over time, even because it's not a crime that's being put into, that's being brought up prior to this, like a previous conviction or a previous allegation.

This is a conversation between his girlfriend and him. Why wouldn't that be admissible? I do think that the Adam Montgomery story, although I still don't agree with it, is a slightly different case. It is a slightly different case, but it is something that defense teams will say this is a good option to appeal for. So we'll see what happens and we'll keep you updated on Crime Weekly News if anything comes up. It was a great series. Lot learned thinking about Jade, Ivy, and the rest of her family and friends, Nijia, you see the reaction that she had during this trial

and how it's affected her. Blaze is exactly where he belongs to be. The case was good enough to get over the finish line, but it wasn't, it wasn't smooth. It wasn't smooth sailing, but I'm happy, I'm happy that justice was served. And as of right now, I'm currently, if you're listening or watching this, I'm in London, hopefully meeting a lot of you from the UK. We're hoping it's a great time. I'm going to have some fun and I hope you guys are as well. We will not be back next week. Actually, next week we are off.

And part of the reason we are off is because of me. I won't be here. I won't be able to film. I don't get back, I think, until Tuesday. So we will be off next week for Crime Weekly News and Crime Weekly. So no episode next week, but we will be back the following week, as Stephanie said in crime weekly news, which she normally doesn't do. Our next deep dive will be Ashley Flynn.

And her weirdo husband, Caleb Flynn, the former American Idol bust out. Slash pastor. Yeah, the one hit wonder. And then obviously the mistress, Alia, who's making the rounds on TikTok and Instagram right now for the testimony where she's being forced to reread her text messages. Go through the public shame of that. It is not looking good for her or Caleb or anybody else in this case. And so yes, we will be back in two weeks with a new Crime Weekly News and New Crime Weekly. Until then, please, everyone stay safe out there, and we will see you soon.

Bye.