Did the Prosecution Prove Murder? Closing Argument Analysis

[00:00:00] Tony DeWitt: Today, we're going to look at first the prosecution closing, and then in the next video, the defense closing, and then in the third video, the rebuttal closing. This should be interesting. Hi, Tony DeWitt here. Formerly, I was a Missouri attorney in active practice. Then I retired. Then I unretired and started a YouTube channel, and I bring you all kinds of stuff about trials and the law. So no legal advice is given, but stay tuned. This is what we're talking about today. We're back in the Tennessee murder trial of Blaze Taylor, who was accused of poisoning his pregnant girlfriend, Jade Benning, with a fatal dose of cocaine in February of 2023. Prosecutors allege that Taylor secretly placed cocaine in Benning's drink because he did not want the pregnancy, while the defense argues the state cannot prove who supplied the cocaine, and points to questions surrounding the forensic evidence, the investigation, and the medical examiner's conclusions. Before I get started, whatever else you want to say about Ms. Hollins, it is obvious to me that when she speaks, she speaks with a level of gravitas in her voice. You can tell she's very serious. This is important to her. She's taken this case to defend somebody she apparently believes to be an innocent man. And that comes through. On the other hand, our prosecutor continues to argue in front of the jury as if this is the final play in the senior high school season. It contains way too much drama, way too much high-pitched use of her voice, and it comes off as strident. I'm just going to forewarn you, that's what you're going to hear. So, be prepared. Let's start with how she started. [00:02:13] Speaker 2: You did this so something would happen to the baby. Jade Benning, she did not call 911. She did better than calling 911. Jade Benning called the one person. The one person who knew where she was, knew who she was with, would know that she was calling scared and for help. Now, Jade Jackson said as soon as she heard her best friend's voice, she knew she was scared and she needed help. Jade Benning did better. She made sure that Blaise Taylor was not the only person to hear her last words. She made sure that you heard her last words. She called Nigeia Jackson and said, Blaise, you're scaring me. Nigeia heard him say, you're scaring me. I know you put something in my drink. I knew my drink tasted funny. Let me see what's in your pocket. Let me see. I know you put something in my drink because I can't even walk straight. I can't feel my legs. You put something in my drink. You did this and something would happen to the baby. I think I'm about to pass out. Jane Benning ensured that you heard her words that night where she was so excited to be having a date night with Blaise Taylor. Her best friend came over. They were the only two people there. Dr. Aaron Carney gave a very specific medical explanation that Jane Benning would have gone pulseless within 30 minutes of ingesting that concentration of cocaine dissolved in a liquid. There were only two people there. The proof and testimony that you have heard over the last week from Jane Benning's family and friends, the pictures, the things in her phone. She was so excited to be having this baby. She was so happy and planning for her baby girl to be born. I submit to you that it does not matter how many questions were asked about fentanyl or cocoa ethylene. It does nothing to change the evidence and proof that you have that Jane Benning did not want to harm herself or her baby. [00:05:45] Tony DeWitt: So, a C-minus on delivery, but an A for content. She got that right, but she should have done it in a little bit more measured voice, I think. She did get a lot of the important facts out front and essentially labeled Blaze Taylor a murderer. Now, whether he is or not, we have to wait for the jury, but I thought she did a pretty good job setting the tone with that little bit of her opening. Now, she went on a little bit later on and embellished a little bit more on what happened. [00:06:17] Speaker 2: Her life was going on, but you also heard from her family and friends that during that time, she was not posting anything about her pregnancy to social media. She had not posted anything to social media about her pregnancy on the day she was murdered. It was not publicized. When Blaze Taylor comes back into Jake Benning's life, this is the evidence that you heard was not he came back welcoming this opportunity with open arms. He tells her very specifically in these messages that your life is changing. This is going to be a thing for you. At no point does he say, we, me, ours. This is going to change Jake's life. And he is not portraying it as a positive. Telling her she shouldn't be so optimistic. And Jake Benning, just as her friends described her, always optimistic, still said, Okay, but I'm going to be able to make this work. Blaze Taylor did not go to any of her pregnancy appointments with her OBGYN. Not one. She asked him very specifically sending him the calendar event. And specifically saying, I really hope you can make it. I would love for you to be there when I found out the gender of our baby. If it's going to be a boy or a girl, I want you to be there. And he did not do it. And even when we saw the shadow, and she had to have follow-up testing, and then another follow-up appointment, he didn't go to any of those. Jake's stepmom, Andrea, she went with her the day that she found out she was having a baby girl. And Jade was still so happy, even though he wasn't there. You also have proof about why Jade wasn't posting. About why everybody didn't know that it was his baby. He was the father. You have a message where Jade is saying, I talked to my mom and let me know not to bring up you or my situation to anyone. She is defending him and his request that no one know that he's the father of the baby. He responds, but it's all good as long as we are on the same page moving forward. Everything is cool, but I appreciate it. The day before Jade Benning is murdered, the day before, the night before she is murdered, Jade Benning wanted to see Blaze Taylor that night, and he didn't. He is texting Xavier Winfurt, who he's had some kind of relationship with since 2017. [00:10:15] Tony DeWitt: The prosecutor here is making some good points as she goes through all of the timeline and the reason why Blaze didn't want to be associated with this infant. And then she delves into a little bit of irrelevance. She goes into a series of text messages with a prior girlfriend. And I get the impression that she's trying to create, which is essentially that Blaze preferred that woman over Jade. I get the impression she's trying to convey. Blaze preferred that other woman over Jade. But it gets lost in the minutia. All she really had to quote here was the part about being in love with this other woman, and I think you've got that done. But she goes through about another five minutes or so of these text messages, dramatizing every one of them. And I don't think it adds anything to the closing argument. But you tell me what you think. [00:11:19] Speaker 2: He does not call 911 until 9-29-27. I'm sorry. The call that Jade makes is at 9-29-27. B&T 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 8-29 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 9-24 to 9-28 you have 4 minutes, 4 minutes after he put this in her drink. He is there and knows what he has done. And for 4 minutes, takes picture after picture with Jade Benning. Glaze Taylor went there with a plan. There was a plan. He has already poisoned her. And he is taking pictures with her. Glaze Taylor did not plan for Jade Benning calling Nigeia Jackson. That hadn't happened yet. The last event that happened is that deleted picture. And within 45 seconds, Jade is calling her best friend. What did you do? She is calling her best friend scared and she is not talking to Nigeia. She is talking to Glaze Taylor. Six minutes and nine seconds. He is there. 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 on, sit down. [00:14:57] Speaker ?: What? [00:14:58] Speaker 2: What are you? What is happening? You seemed fine just a second ago. What can I get you? Do you want me to call someone? You didn't hear testimony of any of that from Nigeia Jackson. [00:15:14] Tony DeWitt: Now, I think that was pretty clever. Because what that is, without being directly a comment on his silence, his post-arrest silence or pre-arrest silence, what it is is a comment on him not saying anything about what's happening. And, basically, he could have explained this, but he chose not to, as she reveals in just a second. [00:15:43] Speaker 2: You also heard Glaze Taylor tell Detective Smith that third interview. He was describing what happened that night, and he said that Jade was trying to lay down. He didn't tell him, so then I helped her. He says that Jade was talking to him. Talking to him. And then he says she wasn't saying stuff, right? Maybe she was kind of talking to Nigeia. Now, at this point, when he tells this to Detective Smith, Nigeia Jackson has already told everybody exactly what she heard her best friend said. She's told the people at the hospital, the first officer, the second officer, the detective, family and friends. She's told Glaze Taylor to his face. Like, you didn't tell them what she said. 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. I know you did this, stood there for six minutes and nine seconds and did nothing to help her. At some point, Glaze Taylor figured out that Jade called Nigeia. He tells Detective Smith that he was there when she called her and that he spoke to Nigeia on the phone. And Jade told Nigeia that she wanted her to come over. Nigeia Jackson's testimony was unimpeached about what she heard her best friend said and about what happened that night. [00:17:50] Tony DeWitt: And here's how she ended the first part of her closing argument. [00:17:55] Speaker 2: He calls 911 knowing that Nigeia Jackson is on her way and she is going to find Jade Benning polseless. He called to knowing what he gave her. When they found her, she is face down on her bed, her mouth on the comforter with pink vomit that tests positive for cocaine. I submit to you, it doesn't matter what was in the drink. It doesn't matter if there was something else mixed in with it. That doesn't matter. The proven evidence in this case is that Blaze Taylor put whatever it was in Jade Benning's drink. He did it and then stayed for 30 minutes. He did it thinking he would be the only one that would hear her words. He did it thinking you would never hear her words. Jade Benning said, you put something in my drink. You did this if something would happen to the baby. Blaze Taylor is guilty of the first degree murder of Jade Benning. He is guilty for the first degree murder of her unborn baby girl. The proof and evidence in this case proves that beyond a reasonable doubt. He is guilty of both counts of felony murder because he chose. He chose to give her cocaine. He chose to put it in her drink. And he chose to kill both her and her unborn baby girl. And we will ask that you return a verdict of guilty on all four counts of the indictment. [00:20:13] Tony DeWitt: The delivery got better there at the end, and I thought it was a fairly workman-like closing argument. I'm not going to put a lot of subheads and that kind of stuff in this one. I want to get it out reasonably quickly since the jury is probably already deliberating at this point So that hopefully I can get all of it done before they come back with a verdict. Thanks for watching. Thanks for watching my video. I really appreciate it. And today as you go about your business, would you try to do just one kind thing for somebody? It doesn't have to be a big thing. You can open a door for somebody who has their arms full. You could buy somebody a Coke. You could let the manager know when somebody did a really good job for you at the grocery store or at Walmart or someplace else. There are all kinds of things we can do to make people's lives better. And a lot of times people will always remember to go to the manager and complain. They very seldom remember to go to the manager and say, Hey, you know, that guy over there in produce is top notch. And I think it's really important to do that because I want to make the world a better place. I know you're here probably because you want to make the world a better place. So let's do that. Now, let's be respectful of one another. And thank God we live in the greatest country in the free world. I do think that the good folks at YouTube have a few things they want to show you up here that you might be interested in. And if you are, I'd appreciate you clicking. Thanks. Have a great day.