About this transcript: This is a full AI-generated transcript of The Poison Playbook Murder Trial — Full Closing Arguments from COURT TV, published August 5, 2026. The transcript contains 15,689 words with timestamps and was generated using Whisper AI.
"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..."
[00:00:00] Speaker 1: 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 Blaze 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, Blaze, 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. Jade Benning ensured that you heard her words that night where she was so excited to be having a date night with Blaze Taylor. Her best friend came over. They were the only two people there. Dr. Aaron Carney gave a very specific medical explanation that Jade 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 Jade 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 Jade Benning did not want to harm herself or her baby. She wanted the opposite of that. The proof and evidence from Nigeria Jackson and Dr. Aaron Carney is proof beyond a reasonable doubt for counts two and four that Blaze Taylor intentionally put that cocaine in Jade's drink to kill the baby. And Jade Benning was killed when he did that. You also have the proof and testimony of Apple Denny. She described to you an event that happened several years before in 2017 but when she heard about what happened to Jade Benning and that Jade Benning was dating Blaze Taylor. She knew immediately immediately she reached out and contacted people because she knew she had information that it was him. She testified told you about very personal things that happened to her but she described what happened over a period of two days. Blaze her testimony was she had to talk him out of putting something in another girl's drink who was refusing to have an abortion so that he could cause the abortion without her knowing. Blaze Taylor chose cocaine. He chose what to put in that drink. He chose a substance that you have heard from multiple witnesses is known to cause spontaneous abortions. Dr. Carney described that it is known to cause a placental abruption. And she also testified that that did not happen to Jade Benning. It did not happen because he killed her. I submit to you that there is proof and evidence that you have heard over the last week that proves beyond a reasonable doubt all four counts of the indictment including the first degree premeditated murder of Jade Benning. Blaze Taylor chose this. You saw when he got back in touch with Jade Benning they had a conversation that explained what happened back in November of 2022. This is kind of a somewhat joking conversation but Jade Benning said you gave me a crazy ultimatum. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:06:51] Speaker ?: This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:06:51] Speaker 1: This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:06:53] Speaker ?: This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:06:53] Speaker 1: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:07:18] Speaker ?: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:07:20] Speaker 1: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:07:33] Speaker ?: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:07:36] Speaker 1: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:08:08] Speaker ?: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:08:12] Speaker 1: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:08:58] Speaker ?: This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:08:59] Speaker 1: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:09:10] Speaker ?: This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:09:21] Speaker 1: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:10:04] Speaker ?: This is kind of a very good idea.
[00:10:05] Speaker 1: This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. This is kind of a very good idea. 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 it be known 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. Jade Benning wanted to see Blaze Taylor that night, and he didn't. He is texting Xavier Winford, who he's had some kind of relationship with since 2017. He's texting her and saying, "You should never doubt anything when it comes to us." And she says, "I'm doing my best." And he says, "I know. I'm trying to reassure you." She thanks him. He says, "I'll do anything to help you. That's what I'm here for." She says, "I trust that's true." And he says, "Good. Do you trust in us?" She responds, "Yes." She responds, "Yes." "Good. Then you have nothing to worry about. Everything is going to work out." She says, "Good." She says he's loud. He says, "Me too." "I love you." "And I need you to love me back." "And be in love with me." She responds that she loves him and he says, "Good. I just want us to be happy together." "We are going to be just fine. We just need to stick together." And she promises him that they are going to stick together. The next night, he goes over to Jay Benning's house for date night. The date night that she's planned, she has canvases so that they can paint pictures for the baby's room. He goes over there to the date night with cocaine to put in her drink. He goes to the date night. The testimony that you heard from Nigeia Jackson and from Keontae Jones about them stopping by, that whole time that he's shuffling those Uno cards, he has the cocaine. The cocaine to put in her drink. He gets there at 7:00 p.m. They show up at 7:30 for 30 minutes, talking about spades and having random conversation. And he has it. He does not call 9-1-1 until 9:29-27. I'm sorry. The call that Jade makes is at 9:29-27.
[00:14:44] Speaker ?: EMTs don't get to her until 9:50.
[00:14:45] Speaker 1: 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 p.m. to 9:28 p.m. 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 Jade 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 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 Blaze 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. What? What are you? What is happening? You seem 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. You also heard Blaze 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 Blaze 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. 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 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 she wanted her to come over. Nigeia's testimony was unimpeached about what she heard her best friend said and about what happened that night. Blaze Taylor did call 911. He did. But, he already knew that Nigeia had been on that phone call. Because this is before Nigeia has gotten back to the apartment. She hasn't told anyone she heard what he said. She hasn't called him. She doesn't call him until 9:47-11 when she calls back to Jade's phone. That's when she talks to him. But, five minutes before that, after he's called 911... ...I think she's a little bit off the phone.
[00:21:26] Speaker 2: I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way.
[00:21:31] Speaker ?: Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way.
[00:21:42] Speaker 2: Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way.
[00:21:53] Speaker ?: Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way.
[00:21:57] Speaker 1: Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. I think one of her friends is on the way. Okay. Okay. I submit to you that call to 911 by Blaze Taylor is because Jade messed up the plan. He knew Nigea was coming. That's why he called. And even then, after six minutes and nine seconds of Jade Benning's last words on earth, he doesn't even call her immediately. He doesn't call 911 immediately to get her help. He waits two minutes and 37 seconds. And then he calls his dad, which that's a 30 second phone call. There was no testimony as to whether or not that call even got answered. It's three minutes and 28 seconds after that call with Nigea ends before he calls 911. There was no cup with any cocaine that was collected in that apartment. There are three and a half minutes before he calls 911. You do have his statements with Detective Smith. And then Blaze Taylor tells him, oh, there's no alcohol whatsoever. No, no, no, no, no. And we both drank the same stuff. And then he's asked if any, if he cleaned up and no, no clean up. He says that Jade cleaned up some, there was some cleanup by her, but he was not cleaning anything in the apartment. And when asked if they went back and got the glasses, if the lab would test positive for anything. And he said, no, it won't. Now there's at least two and a half minutes before the 911 call. And that's just the call to his father. There's this time of what's happening. This cup ends up over by the sink. Detective Reese testified that it appeared it had been washed out. The camera, that is after Nigea Jackson moved the camera back to where it normally would have been. This is from three days before. This is what the camera would have captured. If someone went over to the kitchen island and did anything to any of the cups, it would have been on that camera. But that camera was not where it normally was. When her friends, thank goodness, went to her apartment to secure it and make sure that the evidence was collected. That's where they found the camera. That's where they found the camera. In her bedroom with the blinds up. In a place that would not capture anything that happened to Jade Benning on her bed. And anything that happened in the kitchen. If you notice the selfies that they took for four minutes while the cocaine was clamping down on her blood vessels before it could make her heart stop. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. Not in that camera angle. They were all off to the right.
[00:26:24] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:26:26] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:26:45] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:27:16] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:27:44] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:27:59] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:28:06] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:28:10] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:28:11] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:28:19] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:28:20] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:28:40] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:28:48] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:28:59] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:29:02] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:29:08] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:29:09] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:29:11] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:29:13] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:29:38] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:29:42] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:29:59] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:30:04] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:30:29] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:30:30] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:30:59] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:31:00] Speaker 2: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:31:04] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:31:06] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:31:09] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:31:10] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:31:32] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:31:33] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:31:43] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:31:45] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:32:03] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:32:04] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:32:20] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:32:29] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:33:03] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:33:04] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:33:13] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:33:15] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:33:44] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:33:45] Speaker 1: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:34:02] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:34:12] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:34:14] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:34:15] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right.
[00:34:16] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:34:17] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:34:37] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:34:38] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:34:42] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:34:43] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:34:47] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:34:49] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:04] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:06] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:12] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:35:13] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:18] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:20] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:24] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:27] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:29] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:35:30] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:40] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:50] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:35:58] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:35:59] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:36:01] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:36:02] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:36:07] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:36:08] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:36:11] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:36:20] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:36:22] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:36:23] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:36:31] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:36:33] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:37:03] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:37:04] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:37:08] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:37:10] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:37:25] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:37:26] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:37:30] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:37:31] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:37:34] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:37:37] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:37:55] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:37:56] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:38:00] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:38:03] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:38:24] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:38:27] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:38:34] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:38:35] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:38:53] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:38:54] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:39:06] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right.
[00:39:07] Speaker 3: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:39:10] Speaker ?: They were all off to the right. They were all off to the right.
[00:39:20] Speaker 3: Because he didn't prove to us that it wasn't him. But remember we don't have to do that. That's not the burden. They must prove to you what happened to Miss Benny. They must prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt what happened that night. Not us. Not the defense. So then you ask yourself, well what happened? If he didn't do it, what happened? You're going to say that a million times because that's just a natural reaction to what we're dealing with. But remember as you are going along that journey, deliberating back there, going through the evidence. Remember, they must prove it to you. You cannot ever place that burden on blacks. You cannot. The minute you do that, that Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial collapses. And once that collapses, the system collapses. And once the system collapses, you have people wrongfully convicted and sitting in jail for a very long time, trying to prove their innocence. And that's not the way it was not the way it was designed to work. That is not the way our forefathers meant for it to work. So with that being said, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it.
[00:42:18] Speaker ?: Let's talk about it.
[00:42:19] Speaker 3: Now you're tasked with whether or not you can take it over the hump and move it to murder beyond a reasonable doubt. I want to talk to you guys first about the facts of this case and what you've learned since you've been here. What I don't want you to do as we take this journey is come into this environment and say to yourselves, I want to live in la-la land. I want everything to be perfect. Life isn't perfect. And the older you get, the more you learn that. The older you get, the harder it gets. Trust me when I tell you that. And those of us over the age of 50 can tell you about things that we experience in life that are good, that are ugly, things that we've learned along the way. How we treated people in the past, how we interacted with people in the past, how we respond to people in the past, and how we respond to people now. You learn along the way. But what life isn't is a perfect cookie-cutter la-la land. That's not life. So let's talk about Blaise and Jayden. They met on Hinge. They dated for a little while in terms of, I shouldn't say date, they interacted for a little while, but never really met up. And remember, these are young people. They had casual relationships, not just with each other, but with other people too. And it wasn't just Blaise that dated other people, they both dated other people. They were adults, they were consenting, nobody did anything wrong because everybody agreed. You can date someone else, and you can date someone else. We may not want to live our lives that way, but that's the way they chose to live their life. So when you hear the facts about Blaise texting someone else, that was nothing against Jayden because she was okay with it. So don't let the state make you think that because he was dating someone else, and he texted that other person, that that was something nefarious or wrong. It wasn't. He didn't have to hide that. She knew that. Najee had told you that. She said it to the police officers. She said they weren't dating like that. They weren't exclusive. So no matter how many times the state tells you that Blaise was texting another woman, there's nothing nefarious about that. And that has nothing to do with whether or not he committed murder. So don't go down that road trap. Stay focused on what you're here to do. And I want to be clear when I tell you that when we're talking about facts, if you remember, in Vor Dyer, I had a slide up, and they had facts in blame. And I asked each one of you, would you be okay if sometimes facts were ugly, but I needed to share that with you so that you could have all the facts to come to a decision? It would be unfair to blaze if you didn't have all the facts. So don't think that those facts that we're putting before you are there to put blame or shame on anybody, because it's not. But it would be unfair for you not to have all the facts so that you can come to a conclusion, one that makes sense, based on the evidence in this case. Because that's how you get to a solid verdict is because of evidence, not of sympathy, and not of being angry because I want to give you facts. That's all I want to do. So when they're dating in this casual relationship, they knew each other for less than 90 days. That's a fact. They met up in August, and before the end of the month, they were having sex. That's a fact. And they were having sex without a condom. That is a fact. And we know that because otherwise, she wouldn't have been pregnant and thought it was blazes. So when she finds out that she's pregnant, she and her best friend are trying to make a decision about who the father was. Because at that time, she wasn't sure. And we talked about that with Nigel. And to me, I think that that is a crucial fact for you to consider. Because if she wasn't sure Blazes was the father of the baby, neither was he. So you would then have to believe that he would kill her and that child, not even knowing if it's his or not. That's a fact. And so she tells him she's pregnant. And he's not happy about it. She is. And that's great. There's nothing wrong with that. But Blazes, on the other hand, with only knowing her for 90 days, maybe he's not happy about that. I guarantee you he is not the first human being that in his 20s had an unexpected pregnancy pop up and he's not happy. I guarantee you he is not the only human being who's ever felt that way. And they want you to believe that that's just a horrible fact that would give him motive to kill her and the baby. Most folks in their 20 years, who is in their 20s, who get someone pregnant that they don't know, within 90 days, I'm willing to bet at least 50-50, are not happy. That's real life stuff. That's not a nefarious fact. That's just real life stuff. And that's what I'm going to talk to you today about, is real life stuff. Because if you remember, you heard from Nigel, they were talking about possibly going to Indiana for an abortion. Remember, Nigel was saying it was two weeks, eight weeks, you better make a decision and make it quick if that's what you want to do. And she said, yeah, I do. I need to make that decision. You heard that testimony. And eventually, she landed on having the baby, which she has every right to do. But somehow, it's okay for her to consider abortion. But it wasn't okay for Blaise to consider. That's not fair. Don't let them turn that into a nefarious fact that will automatically get you over to murder. They both considered it. It was just her window was shorter than his. And it would be unfair for you to punish him if you don't punish her. So at some point, they talk about it. Apparently, Blaise was still in the position that he was in, even though she had changed her mind. And she, with the strength that obviously she has or had, said, look, I'm not changing my mind. You've made your decision. If you don't want to be part of this baby's life, kick rocks. I'm good. And he said, okay. You don't see after that, because, Najeea, I asked her those questions. You don't see after that, Blaise constantly calling her, trying to convince her to have an abortion, trying to manipulate her into having an abortion, blowing up her phone, smoothing her out. Because if ultimately his plan was going to be to try to kill the baby, it would have made way more sense to do it up front than wait until she's almost six months pregnant. Why would you wait until somebody gets six months pregnant if that was your plan all along? Remember, she came back in contact with him, with her, December 31st. So he's going to drag it out and let that fetus get two months bigger? That won't make sense. He could have done that a whole lot sooner. That would have made sense. That would have been easier. A miscarriage within the first 90 days, that makes sense. Some people don't even tell people they're pregnant for the first 90 days until they're sure that they get past that first trimester. But he'll wait until she's six months? So she makes a decision. She says, you go your way, I'll go mine. And he honors that. He honors her wishes. Now, if he was cooking up and stirring up this evil plan, why wouldn't he start the manipulation right off? Najeea told you that she liked him. She wanted to be with him. So it would have been easy for him to do that. But he didn't. And I think that's a very important fact. Because if you remember that text message that they read to you, I want to remind you of that text message. This is Jay. Remember they read this to you. Next time I'm tagging along for the adventure. LOL. Blaze says, LOL, okay. That's if you want, of course. This is Jay. LOL. He says, gotta still have a job first. And second, you probably ain't doing much traveling for a while anymore. When next season rolls around, I don't think you'll be able to just make impromptu trips on the weekends, considering you'll have other responsibilities. Not trying to be negative or nothing, but just being realistic. I mean, it would be great if you could, but it's unlikely. What does that mean? That means next time this year, you're going to be a mother. She's 23, 24 years old. 24. You're going to be a young mother. And that comes with a whole lot of responsibilities. So start getting your mind right. And if that's going to be the mother of this child, let me give you a little advice. Men who handle their business, they want women, the mother of their children, to handle their business so that they can set a good example for the child that they're raising. Don't let the state turn that into some kind of, oh, he was so mean. No, he was telling her the truth. And those of us that are mothers, we know the responsibility it takes to raise a child. There are often times you miss trips because you've got to stay home with your child. You don't get to go away like you used to when you're single. You need to start thinking about those things. The lifestyle that you live, hanging out with your friends and drinking and having a good time, that's going to change. And that's what he's telling her. Not to be mean, but to be real. What's wrong with that? Then he goes on to say, oh, she says, LOL, okay, didn't mean to make it all serious. But yes, responsibilities will be different. But living life will still be happening as well, just living differently. And I understand the realistic thinking of it as well. It's part of the big challenge, she says. And he says, yeah, especially for you. I remember getting pregnant. And my mother says something I'll never forget. It goes a long way. She said, honey, that's going to be your baby. Because it's nothing like a mother with their child. Daddies love their children. Yes, they do. But they don't love them the way the mother does. That mother gets up every morning. That mother got a calm hand. That mother has to get that child out there. And yes, the father should participate as well. But the reality of it is, men don't come close on the daily activities that a mother does with their child. That's real. It's probably something he saw every day with his own mother. And she says, of course, wasn't trying to get into a serious talk for us. Sorry. He says, but we don't have to, we don't got to be super serious. I just didn't want to sell false dreams. Because yeah, it would be great if you could come with on our work, my work trips. But I just feel like it's not realistic from a financial or just a feasible ability to randomly catch a flight and get away for a weekend. We're young. Money's already tight. We can't just spend money on getaway trips on the weekend and this baby is coming. And I could lie to you or I could keep it real with you. Bray's wouldn't have been able to win here. It didn't matter. If he would have sold her a dream and lied to her on here, they would have been telling you that. But now he's keeping it real with her, being honest with her. And now that's wrong too. Would you rather him lie? The man was trying to be honest. The man was trying to be responsible. And somehow, that's wrong too. It's no big deal. I know you wasn't meaning it that way, but I just didn't want to be like, oh yeah, I'll bring you on the next one. Next year, knowing that it's probably, and it's probably a lie. She says, totally understand, babes. It's not like it can never happen because I'm having a baby. But realistic, it wouldn't be able to on the fly. Planning out things will always be an option. Life doesn't just stop because of it though. Laugh out loud, we're still going to have one, just living different. He says, I hear you, but you can't minimize how much things are going to change for you. You've got to be realistic that things are about to be hella different for you and will change drastically. Your day-to-day life is not going to be the same. Yeah, life goes on, but it's forever altered and changed in a drastic way. I'm not saying it's over or anything, but it worries me sometimes when you downplay it and act like it's no big deal. And I know you always want to be super optimistic and stuff, but I feel like you need to be honest with yourself about the situation and know what's down the road for you. Now let's back up with that. He says, it worries me sometimes when you downplay it. That means there's something that has gone on in the past that has caused him with the woman who is potentially going to be the mother of his child to start having serious conversations with her. Hey man, let's plan this thing out. Start thinking right. So there's something going on there that made him feel like he should have this conversation with her. If that's going to be the mother of his child, what's wrong with that? In fact, that might be good. And then he says, I just want to make sure you understand the gravity of the situation and you're preparing, preparing, preparing for those realities. That's all. She says, I'm not trying to minimize things and sometimes I can be super optimistic. She's admitting to it about things which can be scary. But I do sit and process that there will be drastic life changes and prepare myself for the tough realities as much as I can that are to come. I'm not just trying to make it seem like everything is going to be all peaches and cream. I am hearing and understanding everything you are saying. He liked it and then he says, hey, what time are you going to work? She says, around three. So she wasn't upset about the conversation. and if you remember Mr. Devlin when he was testifying about some of the text messages between them, do you remember when she said that it turned her on when he talked serious with her? That's what this is. That came out of her mouth. It turns me on when you talk serious to me. Some people like to date people and be with people that motivate them to be their best. People who hold their feet to the fight. Iron sharpest iron. And I always say, I never want to be the smartest person in the room because how can I get better? So when you're attracted to people who are responsible and that's who you attach yourself with, you're hoping that it makes you a better person. All of our parents have told us, watch your friends. Watch who you hang out with. Look at the five closest people in your life and you'll see your future. so she wouldn't have said that she's turned on by having serious conversations with him if she wasn't. And so that was the nature of that conversation. Now, there was so much talk about how Blaze just totally disregarded the baby, totally disregarded her pregnancy, as if he was just pushing her off to the side waiting for the perfect moment to kill her and the child. Because if you notice the tone of that text message conversation, it was talking about the future. Why talk about the future if your plan is to kill her anyway? you wouldn't even have to have those conversations. You could just continue to make her feel peachy and creamy. You don't make plans and you don't try to help the person become more realistic about what it takes to be a mother if it's not your intention for her to be alone. That doesn't even make sense. So I wanted to show you a few things because we didn't get to show you everything in the phone because if you remember when I asked Mr. Devlin was there a whole lot more in there, he says yes, we only provided a sample. So some of those text messages were, Blaze told me last night he signed up for monthly subscriptions of diapers from this company, kudos, LOL. Why would he do that if it was his intention to kill the child? Didn't you ever state at occasion you knew that he and Miss Benning talked about naming the baby Jim? Do you remember when I asked Nigeria Jackson that? And she says yes. I said well that would be involved with the baby, wouldn't it? She says I mean yeah. Because remember her name is Jay, his name is Blaze, and so they were going to name the baby Jim. That's being involved. It may not have been to the level that she would have wanted it, and I guarantee you yet again if we're talking about real life, there's a whole lot of women out there who would love for their significant others to be a little bit more involved with the child. I certainly know that I would. Here, does Blaze rub your belly, LOL, sometimes. If he's planning names, buying diaper subscriptions, and rubbing her belly, then what we're really talking about is that he wasn't doing it on the level that maybe she wanted it. It wasn't that he wasn't doing it at all. Let's go now to the day in question, because we know how they met, we know how they dated, we know what the understanding was, we know they both considered abortion at one time, one changed their mind quicker than the other, they got back together, they're having realistic conversations, and remember I told you about before, during, and after, because nobody, no one saw Blaise put cocaine in Jade's drink, nobody saw that, that's undisputed, nobody saw Blaise give her alcohol, and we're going to talk about that a little later, nobody saw that, so what that means is, this is a circumstantial case, and in order for you to come to a conclusion that is proper in a circumstantial case, because those are the most dangerous ones, because nobody sees what happened, you have to consider all the surrounding circumstances. Most of the time, the crime is in the cleanup, and I'm sure you've heard that before. So you have your before bucket, your during bucket, and your after. What we do now, and like I said, I'm not doing this to shame anyone, because if I was, I would have a ton of text messages up there about drugs and all kinds of stuff, but I'm not doing that. The only reason I'm sharing this information with you is so that you can have the facts, as they really are. So when we talk about before, there was only one person involved with drugs and it wasn't Blaze. You didn't hear any evidence of Blaze purchasing cocaine, smoking weed, doing mushrooms, getting drunk, drinking alcohol. In fact, it was the exact opposite. The evidence you heard is that Blaze does not drink and does not do drugs. However, what you did hear is that Jade does drink to the point that she gets drunk and she does drugs. So that's before. Remember, this is circumstantial, so you consider all the facts surrounding you. Jade invites Blaze over. This is important because Blaze didn't know that Jade was going to invite him over that day. He had just seen her the day before. Remember, they had gone to the Waffle House. So there were two days before that he was with her, that he could have pulled off the elaborate plan, but he didn't. And so spontaneously, she invites him over again. This is the third day in a row now. And so you see here, also, will you be free around seven o'clock? Yeah, I fell asleep watching Outer Banks and woke up to gun firing on the show, but yeah, I should be. LMAO woke up confused ASM OK, I'll have plans for us. You can come dressed comfy to my house. OK, sounds good. Sweet, I am getting off now, she says. And that is at 3.50. And he says, how was work? So now this spontaneous plan is 3.50. He has three hours to cook up the elaborate plan to kill her. because remember he didn't know she was going to ask him to come over that night. So, he comes over. When he comes over, it's seven o'clock, he's there, and then Nigeia and Keontae shows up. He didn't know that, right? Now, if all the while it was his plan to kill her that night, you would think that once Keontae and Nigeia showed up, if he had any kind of sense, he'll abort the plan. But no, he's brazen. Even though her best friend came over, saw him in the apartment, alone with her, almost six months pregnant, 25 weeks, I believe the autopsy said, he decides I'm going to go ahead with the plan and kill her anyway. I know they saw me in here, doesn't matter, I'm going to do it anyway. And so, they eat. Nigeia and Keontae, they come, they talk, they interact, he invites them to stay. He invites them to stay. Why would you invite them to stay if it's your plan to kill her? So you can have witnesses? No. So they stay, they talk, he's shuffling uno cards because the murderer who doesn't drink or do drugs plays uno and then kills pregnant women on his downtime. and then they leave and then they talk and they dance, they take selfies, and then the call comes. It's 929, the first call from Nigeia. And the reason I wanted to lay this out this way was because there's been so much talk about this elaborate cleanup that he must have done. and I wanted you to see that there was no time for that because now we're in the during phase. And so 929, Nigeia calls and that call lasts six minutes, nine seconds. That takes us to 935 and some change. And I think the interchange between that time and when he calls his father at 938 and 12 seconds is about two minutes. Now mind you, Jade is having a medical emergency. All kind of things are going on. She's foaming at the mouth, she's shaking, she sounds like she's snoring. They tell him to get a towel, go wipe her mouth, put her on her side. He's trying to tend to her. But he's being punished for that. And if he wouldn't have tended to her, he would have been punished for that. But even still, as he is calling or in the call at 929, when Nigeia says that she's saying you put something in my drink. What did you put in my drink? Do you remember the text message that Nigeia sent as a result of hearing you put something in my drink? Are you talking to me? I want everybody to think about your best friend. And your best friend calls you on the phone. I want you to envision that. And you pick up the phone and you say hello. And they tell you on the other phone you hear, you're stabbing me. You're shooting me. You're killing me. Are you going to say, are you talking to me? You know they're not talking to you. You're going to say, what's wrong? What's going on over there? Do I need to come get you? Do I need to call 911? That's a natural response. But instead you send a text saying, are you talking to me? remember nobody else heard exactly what was going on on that phone call. Nobody. But Najee. So let's look at the facts surrounding that. As much as she says that this was the worst thing she's ever heard, her friend was in so much danger, so much distress. It was horrible. It was scary. She knew because she just left there. She knew that he was in that apartment. She was in that apartment alone with the man who was trying to kill him, according to her. But she doesn't call 911. Instead, she calls Keontae, who only met Jade twice. And apparently he gets on the phone. They're talking. At least he says he can hear her trying to talk. So if she's trying to talk, Dr. Ola Sugar told you she has to be breathing in order to do that. Remember Keontae actually said he did hear her voice. But even with that, as dire straits as Najeea explains that it is, he goes out with his buddies anyway. Think about that. If it was as horrible and dangerous, why would this guy put his clothes on and go on out anyway? And then remember Najeea immediately after hanging up, called Jade's mom. And shares with her what she heard, what Jade said. And not withstanding that, Jade's mom sends a text and says, oh, the baby's good, the heartbeat is okay. If it was as serious and people believed Najeea or believed in the credibility of her, do you think that Jade's mother would text that man and tell him and give them an update about the baby? Are you going to text the man who's just been accused of killing your child and give them an update about the baby? Are you going to do that? There's something not right about you. But that's what happened. And so right after that phone call, he calls his dad on the phone with him for 30 seconds because that's what he told the police officer that he talked to his dad and his dad said, call, son, hang up with me and call 911. What are you doing on the phone with me? He does that and within 60, so if that call lasted 30 seconds, that takes us to 938 and 42 seconds. And at 938 and 58 seconds, Blaze is on the phone with 911 and you heard that call. You heard the desperation in his voice. He didn't know the address to give the man. You remember that interchange. So the only way to get the address would be to run to the front to get the address. And if you remember what he says, I want you guys to pay attention to this. He said the address is 1522-1550 Lebanon Pike. Most of the time when people give an address, it's only one numeric value. It makes sense that he ran to the front of the condominium complex because that's the exact address he gave them. So then after that, I went the wrong way. Then he gets off the phone with 9-1-1 and she calls back. So if it was six minutes and somehow, I'm sorry, the 9-1-1 call was almost nine minutes, so that would take him right around to 9-47 and Nigel calls back to Jade's phone. And he answers. He didn't have to answer. It was Jade's phone. He could have said I was dealing with an emergency, but he picked up the phone and gave her an update, doing the responsible thing. Then after that, that call lasted about two minutes, she says. That takes us to around 9-49. EMS arrives at 9-48. And if you look at that slip from the EMS, because you'll have the right to look at the evidence, it's going to show you that EMS arrived about 9-48 and you heard him say, I can hear the silence. I think I can hear the silence. And then he goes out and runs to get them. Remember on the call, the man says, put her on her side. So he did that. Then if you remember as much as she didn't want to, she told you that Blaze ran out to meet them, at least at the door. So perhaps she rolled over while he was gone. We don't know. But nobody's calling 9-1-1 and doing all those things to help, only to put her on the side and try to kill her. So by now, EMS is there. So the time for cleanup is gone. Where was all this time for him to clean up? It's not there because remember those selfies was less than 60 seconds before the emergency call. The time just isn't there. So that's during. So when we think about during, there was only one person who called 9-1-1. Only one. As sick and as dangerous that it was described to be, only one person called 9-1-1. Frantic, running to get the address, doing everything that he could do. That's during. Now let's talk about after the investigation. investigation. Listen. What's unfair is three years later, Blaze is now held responsible to try to prove himself innocent when one, that's not the law, and two, a lot of the evidence is gone. That's unfair. How can I prove my innocence when Detective Reese said he let the video surveillance camera get erased? How does the lead detective not get that surveillance camera that would have showed Blaze coming and going, Najee and Keontae coming and going? if he really ran to the sign, we would have seen that. If he came there with something in his hand, alcohol and or cocaine, perhaps we would have seen that on the video. If somebody else showed up there that day, perhaps we would have seen that. But they allowed it to get destroyed. Blaze didn't know that. Remember, he didn't get arrested for a year later. If he knew the burden was going to be shifted from what the law was, then maybe he would have done the investigation himself. But he was trusting the police to do the investigation because that's their job. And we know that she met with the drug dealer that day, albeit it was for Mario or whoever it was for. If this is a drug overdose, I really want y'all to think about this. If this is a drug overdose, why wouldn't the police officer go talk to the drug dude? If it was a financial crime, you'd chase the money. How in the world in a drug crime you don't bother to speak with the dude who sold her drugs that day, whoever it was for? whether she met up with him or not. That's not for us to have to figure out. But he didn't. So now you don't talk to key witnesses, and there were other drug dealers in our phone too. They didn't call any of them. You let the surveillance video get destroyed, that possibly could have exonerated
[01:26:07] Speaker ?: him.
[01:26:08] Speaker 3: But we'll never know that. And now he will be punished for it. You let the cup that was supposedly the missing cup, the crime scene investigation team, they didn't see it. It was on the counter. Somehow we missed it. But all along, there was this missing cup that Blaise must have taken because he cleaned up. We already seen there weren't time to clean up. And he had taken the cup with him. The whole time Detective Reese had to tell you we missed the cup. It was there the whole time. Well, perhaps if Blaise knew one day he would be sitting here facing felony murder charges, he'd have had the cup tested himself. But he can't do that now. And he shouldn't have to do that
[01:27:04] Speaker ?: now.
[01:27:05] Speaker 3: Because that's not the law. That was their job. And if it was cocaine in it, they would have known it. But they did take a bunch of glasses. They took all kinds of things from out of their dishwives. And there wasn't anything on it. Anything. And think about this. Remember how they talked about all this cocaine? One thing they cannot get away from is that she had coca ethylene in her system. They can't get as much as they would love to. They told you first it was coming from vanilla extra. Don't do it. Don't believe it. Or two, because of some of the treatments she got at Vanderbilt. There is no treatment at Vanderbilt that leaves you with coca ethylene in your system when cocaine and alcohol come together. That means, think about this, that means that he would have had to put cocaine and alcohol in either her water or her lemonade. And the chef, chefs have sensitive palates. They taste food. That's what they do. They'll taste something and they'll tell you what ingredient is in it because they're trained that way. She didn't taste alcohol or cocaine. Neither one of them. And the amount that they're saying that he gave her. Does that make sense? How do you do that? How do you put that much cocaine in somebody's drink? And alcohol and they come out saying it tastes funny. It's going to taste a whole lot worse than just funny. You're not going to keep drinking. And according to the state, it was so much that it caused this overdose. So she kept drinking cocaine and alcohol, the chef, and never, ever noticed it. No. So then we go to the fact that first Lauren Weber went to the scene. Now remember, police are all through that hospital now because they get to the hospital at 10-12. That's going to be on your sheet. So that's over an hour or so later. You've got Officer Fish, Officer Pfeiffer, Detective Martin. You have all these officers who are now interviewing Nagea interviewing Blaise. And Nagea know it, and I guarantee you, Ms. Burks knew it, Ms. Franklin knew it, and Lauren Weber knew it. And we know they knew it because Officer Fish told you that Ms. Burks was on the phone when she was talking to Ms. Brown. And she said that they told them the detectives are coming that night. But Lauren Weber, Lauren Weber remembers the significant other of Mario, the one who asked her to go get drugs with her. The first person in there is Lauren Weber. And she said, don't get lost on it, she said all I did, I didn't touch anything, I grabbed the keys, blew out a candle and left. But Officer Reese told you that she said she removed belongings too. And that she looked all throughout it. You can't do both. One of them is not true. Either you went in and grabbed keys and just left, or you went in there and grabbed belongings and looked all throughout it. And if you did that, why lie about it? Just say what it is. Unless you had something to hide. Or unless you went to get something. Then not withstanding that, now you have detectives on the scene. And Officer Fish told you that she told Miss Burks and Miss Browning, this scene is on lock. Nobody in, nobody out. But the truth is nobody should have had to tell you that. Because if he did it and you think he did it, you want to leave that scene just the way it is. Because he may have made a mistake. I want those offers to be able to catch that mistake. I don't want to touch it. Jay doesn't need to go back there that night. She's in the hospital. We're going to lock this thing down because we're going to catch him. I know he would have made a mistake. They went in there and they removed evidence and they manipulated evidence by moving it from here to here. Why would you do that? And they said, oh, well, the officer gave us permission. And then you remember Detective Martin getting on the stand? And then he said, oh, I may have given them permission. And Mr. Joyner said, well, didn't you send me an email yesterday saying that you didn't? What changed? Oh, well, this morning when I got here, things changed. Oh, okay. Don't allow that. That's not right. Because what detective will tell a woman and three young girls, y'all go do the investigating for me. Let me know when you're done and what you come up with. That doesn't
[01:33:32] Speaker ?: happen.
[01:33:34] Speaker 3: That doesn't happen. And then you have the only other eyewitness,
[01:33:43] Speaker ?: the
[01:33:43] Speaker 3: only other person in that house. He should be just as important as Nigel.
[01:33:53] Speaker 2: Right, this apology may be wrapping up your argument.
[01:33:56] Speaker 3: Detective Reese said, I like to bring people in to talk. But I didn't bother to have Keontae come down. I just called him on the phone. And Keontae wouldn't tell you the truth about his theft conviction. And he told you, because he didn't talk to anybody there that night, even though he went there. why not? He said they didn't have security. There it is right there. Why didn't he talk? I don't have a lot of time left, so I'm going to go through it quickly. You don't have
[01:34:35] Speaker 2: any time left. May I
[01:34:37] Speaker 3: have five
[01:34:37] Speaker 2: minutes? Yes,
[01:34:38] Speaker 3: sir.
[01:34:39] Speaker 2: You got a minute.
[01:34:43] Speaker 3: I've given you the investigation. That's the towel he took. I got 60 seconds. I'm going to do my best. That's the towel he took. That's where he got it from. If he was cleaning up, he would have fixed those tabs. But he didn't. That's the surveillance video. that missing cup. It was sitting there the entire time. No one in, no one out. That's the V8 bottle. It wasn't in there. You see the lemonade, you don't see the V8. And on those other pictures, you don't see it either. So that's the communication log. Coca ethylene is in the system. You going to have the reports. It's there, and it was there that. And the autopsy report at the end of the day, don't forget what I've shared with you.
[01:35:35] Speaker ?: At
[01:35:35] Speaker 3: the end of the day, even the medical examiner can't come to a conclusion. And with all these surrounding circumstances, how can you? Now I told you that when you get back there you're going to be tired and it's going to be long. And you promised me that you would not let anyone change your convictions of what you believe no matter how long it takes because you said if they can't make a decision in the most important affairs of your life that you wouldn't let them do it for blaze. I thank you so much for your patience and for being here and the Taylor family does as well. I won't get to get back up here and because we don't have the burden they do so when you get back there you make the argument for me. Thank you.
[01:36:40] Speaker 1: Miss Hollins went back and forth between whether or not blaze Taylor even thought he was the father of this child. she said that Nigea Jackson said she wasn't sure. You heard the testimony. I submit to you that Nigea said she was sure it's just he wasn't involved and she was saying that at the hospital because he was telling the people at the hospital that he loved Jade more than her and she was that was not true. that's what she testified to about whether or not he was the father. She told all of the officers he's just the father. He's not involved. But Miss Holland argued to you that he wasn't the father but then she also wants you to consider a text message where Jade is telling her mom that he signed up for a diaper service. You can't have it both ways. Also Lace Taylor told people he was the father of her baby. He told Keontae, Nigea, the people at Vanderbilt. He told the police officers. Now when he calls 911 he is with a friend but when the police come that is his girlfriend. He is absolutely committed. And the text messages with Xavier Winford absolutely were not submitted for any purpose of saying somehow Mr. Taylor was a bad person because he was seeing more than one woman. it was for that very purpose. He had someone that he loved. That he was telling I love you. But also the rest of that thread is that something is happening but everything is going to work out for them. But it is very much against what he told the police that Jay Benning was his girlfriend. His interactions with her there weren't I love you. She also wasn't going to admit he's the father of the child but yet wants to say that they picked out the baby's name together. Well Nigeria Jackson testified about that and she was very specific that that was a name that Jay suggested and he agreed. He didn't disagree with it. But you also heard testimony that Jade unborn baby girl's name is Ivy. Just to clarify, I don't know where the Lauren Webber Mario connection came from. I submit to you that the evidence that you heard was that Mario texted Jade. Jade texted Danny. Danny wasn't in town. No one met up. Lauren Webber was not involved in that. Lauren Webber went to the apartment and her testimony was that it seemed too clean. And she told the officers that. That was the first thing she said to them. She went in and it was so weird to her that she took two pictures and she locked the apartment. I submit whatever happened within the police department for officers to not go there that night and seize that scene absolutely that is a mistake that should have happened and it did not happen but it doesn't change anything. Thank God for Jade's family and friends that they were not happy because nothing was happening and it needed to happen. And they took care of it. There was nothing that was disturbed. Now Mr. Taylor in the cleanup he did not put the camera back and they put the camera back where it would be where it would face the door not knowing if he could come back in because the police aren't there. Ms. Hollis also argued that somehow if he wanted to kill the baby that he wouldn't be wanting updates from Jade's mom. Jade's mom's updating him because nobody knows yet about the cocaine. That first drug screen in the hospital was negative. She doesn't nobody knows what's happened. She referenced the cause of death with Dr. Carney says that there's a suspicion for homicide because it's possible that she ingested the cocaine without her knowledge. Someone gave it to her. But Dr. Carney's determination has nothing to do with yours. Your determination is reviewing all of the evidence to determine what proof beyond a reasonable doubt. If she determined it was a homicide, you could not consider her determination for your decision. That is for the death certificate. Ms. Holland arguments to you about Blaise Taylor. We wish we had the surveillance video. Yes, it would be much better if we had the surveillance video, but not to exculpate him. It would show him going in and out. How long was he out there before he went back inside on 911? How many times did he go out there? It would show Jay Benning pulseless the way he saw her being carried out by the EMTs. There is nothing about that that undoes the proof in this case. she argued that a chef would know that there was something in a drink. Jake Benning absolutely said, I knew there was something in my drink because I tasted it. Those are the facts. Miss Holland's entire argument is asking you to ignore the testimony that again was unimpeached by Nigeia Jackson that Jay Benning said all of these things. She said them to him. it's only the two of them in the apartment. He said it's only the two of them. He said Jay was talking to me. Her arguments to you are asking you to not only ignore everything that Jay Benning said, but it's to ignore that if for some reason it was true and Jay Benning ingested the cocaine herself to kill herself and her baby and then called her best friend and said these things to Blaze Taylor and Blaze Taylor never tells anyone what she said. He doesn't when he sees Nigea say oh my God what happened she said these things I didn't do anything we have to figure out what's going on. That is absolutely not true. He didn't tell anyone what Jay said and when Detective Smith when Detective Smith asked him if Nigea would have any reason to make up these accusations he didn't even say she was making it up. He said I think she's just in shock and I was the last one with Jade. There is no explanation because Jade Benning said these things. It is the proof and evidence in this case Jade Benning named her murderer and the murderer of her baby and she told you why. The state does not have to prove the why but Jade Benning told you why. And I submit to you that the evidence in this case is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Blaise Taylor is guilty of all four counts of the indictment. Thank you.