June 23, 2026

Ex-Titans Scout Blaise Taylor on Trial in Jade Benning's Poisoning Death, a Teen Killer Out of Appeals, a Sidewalk-Push Murder Charge

Ex-Titans Scout Blaise Taylor on Trial in Jade Benning's Poisoning Death, a Teen Killer Out of Appeals, a Sidewalk-Push Murder Charge

Garret Fisher covers three cases. In Nashville, jury selection has begun in the first-degree and felony murder trial of Blaise Taylor, a former Tennessee Titans pro scout accused of secretly poisoning his pregnant girlfriend, Jade Benning, in February 2023; Benning's unborn daughter died days later, and Benning herself died on March 6 — her 25th birthday. He has pleaded not guilty, the defense is contesting the forensic evidence, and the state is seeking life without parole. In Cape Coral, Florida, Thomas Stein — convicted of felony murder and three counts of attempted murder in the 2024 shooting death of 15-year-old Kayla Rincon-Miller during an attempted robbery — has had his motion for a new trial denied; he faces a mandatory life sentence at his July 10 sentencing. And in Miami, Jacob Kohlhas, 72, charged with second-degree murder in the death of 65-year-old Alisa Toth, who died after he allegedly pushed her on a public sidewalk, is asking a judge to bar the charge on speedy-trial grounds, arguing prosecutors filed it after the clock had run. He has pleaded not guilty.

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WEBVTT

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Caalaroga Shark Media. Good morning. I'm Garrett Fisher and this

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is Daily Crime and Justice for Tuesday, June twenty third,

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twenty twenty six. Let me tell you what we're working

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with today. Three cases, three states, and one thread running

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through all of them, the distance between what somebody did

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and whether the law is going to make them answer

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for it. In Nashville, Tennessee, a jury is being seated

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right now in the trial of a former pro football

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scout named Blaze Taylor. Prosecutors say he poisoned his pregnant

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girlfriend in her own apartment without her knowing, and that

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she spent ten days dying in a hospital bed, while

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the baby girl she was carrying didn't make it at all.

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He says he's innocent. A jury is about to decide

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in Fort Myers, Florida. We're going back to a case

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we sat with you on back in May, the murder

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of a fifteen year old named Kayla ringcon Mill walking

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home from the movies with her friends. The young man

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convicted of killing her just asked a judge for a

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new trial. The judge said no, And now the only

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thing left on the calendar is the day he gets

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sentenced and in Miami, a story that's going to test

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your patience. A seventy two year old man is charged

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with murder after a sixty five year old woman he

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didn't know ended up dead on his sidewalk. His lawyers

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aren't arguing he didn't do it. They're arguing the prosecutors

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took too long and that a clock on the wall

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should make the whole murder charge go away. Three cases,

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Stay with me, the facts upfront. Blaize Taylor, aged thirty,

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is a former Tennessee Titans pro scout charged in Nashville

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with two counts of first degree murder and two counts

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of felony murder in the deaths of his girlfriend, Jade Benning,

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twenty five, and her unborn daughter. Prosecutors allege he poisoned

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Benning without her knowledge in Jebruary of twenty twenty three.

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He is pleaded not guilty. Jury selection began Monday, June

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twenty second. The state is seeking life in prison without parole.

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Thomas Stein, eighteen, was convicted in Fort Myers, Florida, a

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felony murder with a firearm and three counts of attempted

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murder in the death of fifteen year old Kayla Rinkin

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Miller shot during an attempted robbery in Cape Coral on

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March of seventeenth, twenty twenty four. A judge denied his

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motion for a new trial. His sentencing is set for

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July tenth, where Florida law requires a mandatory life sentence.

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Jacob Cooljas, seventy two, is charged in Miami with second

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degree murder in the death of sixty five year old

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Elisa Toth, who died after he allegedly pushed her on

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a public sidewalk in October of twenty twenty five. He

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has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys have asked a judge

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to throw out the charge on speedy trial grounds. I

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start with Jade Benning, before the football, before the indictment,

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before any of it. I want you to know her

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name first. Jade Benning was twenty four years old. She

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was from Little Rock, Arkansas. Her family has described her

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as a radiant soul, a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece,

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a sister, and in their words, a soon to be mother.

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She was pregnant five months along carrying a baby girl,

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and on February twenty fifth, twenty twenty three, she was

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in her apartment on Lebanon Pike in Nashville, when something

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went very wrong. At nine thirty eight that night, her

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boyfriend called nine one one. He told the dispatcher that

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Jade appeared to be having an allergic reaction, and he

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asked for paramedics. She was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center,

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and almost immediately her condition became critical. Two days later,

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on February twenty seventh, her unborn daughter died. Jade held on.

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Prosecutors say she lingered, She languished for days, and then

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on March sixth, twenty twenty three, her twenty fifth birthday,

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Jade Benning died. She was never able to speak to investigators.

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By the time anyone could ask her what happened, she

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was already gone. So the question of what happened in

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that apartment had to be answered by other people, by scientists,

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by doctors, by a homicide detective, and eventually by a

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grand jury. That boyfriend is a man named Blaze Taylor,

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and here's the part that put this case on the

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national radar. Taylor wasn't a stranger to a certain kind

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of spotlight. He played college football at Arkansas State, where

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he was a defensive back and a punt returner and

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a team captain. He earned a bachelor's degree and a

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master's in business administration there in under four years. He

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went on to work for the Tennessee Titans, first as

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a scouting assistant, then as a pro scout from twenty

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nineteen until twenty twenty three. He left the Titan shortly

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after Jade's death. He briefly took a job as a

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defensive analyst at Utah State, and then, nearly a year

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after Jade died, Deputy US Marshals arrested him in Utah

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on a Nashville grand jury indictment. Here is what the

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prosecution alleges. They say, Blaze Taylor poisoned Jade Benning without

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her knowledge while he was visiting her apartment the night

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she got sick. Two counts of first degree murder, two

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counts of felony murder, and the State of Tennessee has

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filed a notice that if he's convicted, they intend to

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seek life in prison without the possibility of parole. Now,

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the most haunting piece of evidence we know about so

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far came out at a bond hearing back in twenty

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twenty four. Jade's best friend testified that she got a

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late night phone call from Jade the night she got sick,

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and on that call, the friend says she heard Jade

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say something to Taylor. She heard her say, and I'm

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quoting the testimony, my drink tasted funny. I can't even

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walk straight. You did this to do something to the baby.

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Sit with that for a second. If that testimony holds

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up in front of a jury, it is Jade Benning

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in something close to real time, naming what she believed

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was happening to her. That's not a detective's theory. That's

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the alleged victim's own voice. But I told you I'd

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be honest with you, and honesty cuts both ways. This

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is not a clean, simple case, and the defense is

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going to fight hard. A toxicology report reviewed by Court

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TV showed Jade had cocaine in her system when she died.

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The medical examiner testified at a hearing that there were

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more drugs in her system than recreational use could account for.

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And you can already see where two sides take a

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fact like that in opposite directions. The defense is also

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moving to limit the prosecution's forensic evidence before the jury

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ever hears it, challenging the chain of custody on the

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biological samples and arguing that the actual analyst who did

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the lab testing should have to testify, not just someone

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who reviewed the results. Those are real legal questions and

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a judge will rule on them. So here's where we

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actually are. Jury selection began Monday in Davidson County Criminal Court.

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This trial was supposed to start back in January, but

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it got pushed by a winter storm. Taylor has been

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free this whole time on a two and a half

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million dollar bond. He is pleaded not guilty. He is

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presumed innocent. And I mean that a jury is being

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seated as we speak, and they are the ones who

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decide this, not me and not a headline. But I'll

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tell you what I'm going to be watching for. A

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woman called nine one one's worth of paramedics into her

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own apartment, and the person who made that call is

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the person now charged with putting her there. Jade Benning

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spent the last ten days of her life in a hospital,

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and she spent her twenty fifth birthday dying. Somebody is

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going to have to explain that to twelve people in Nashville.

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Will be on it. Cape Coral, Kayla Rink and Miller

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and the end of the road for Thomas Stein. If

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you've been with us a while, you already know this

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name because we sat with you on this one back

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on May fourth, the day Thomas Stein took the witness

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stand in his own murder trial. A lot has happened

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since then, so let me bring you all the way

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up to date, but first the same way we did

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it in May. I want to start with Kayla. Kayla

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Rincone Miller was fifteen years old on March seventeenth, twenty

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twenty four, Saint Patrick's Day. She went to the movies

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in Cape Coral, Florida with two of her friends. They

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got out late. They got hungry. They decided to walk

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to get something to eat, and on the way, the

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three of them were filming each other on their phones,

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just being teenagers. They had Kayla pretend to walk a runway,

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strutting down the sidewalk while her friends laughed behind the camera.

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That is what she was doing in the last hour

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of her life. A car pulled up, two young men

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got out. They wanted to rob the girls. There was

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an altercation, A gun went off and Kayla fell to

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the ground. She was the one who got hit and

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the two young men ran. Here's what's changed since May.

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The jury came back. They found Thomas Stein, now eighteen

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years old, guilty of felony murder with a firearm and

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guilty of three counts of attempted murder. Stein had testified

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in his own defense. He admitted he was at the

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scene with his co defendant, but he told the jury

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there were other people in the car, that he never

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fired a gun, and that he was, in his words,

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shocked when the gun went off. The jury did not

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buy it. His co defendant, a young man named Christopher Horn,

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took a different road. Horn pleaded guilty to second degree

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murder and agreed to testify against Stein as part of

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his deal. And when he got on that stand, he

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was a reluctant witness, at one point pushing back with

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you're trying to say I did it. Horn was sentenced

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last month to twenty five years in prison for context

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second degree murder in Florida normally carries a minimum of

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twenty seven years, so his cooperation bought him a slightly

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shorter number. Now here's the part that brings us to today.

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The moment Stein was convicted, his lawyers filed a motion

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for a new trial. Their argument was that the prosecution

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committed a discovery violation, that one of the eyewitnesses gave

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testimony a trial that differed from what she'd told investigators earlier,

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and that the defense got in their word ambushed. Prosecutors

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pushed back hard. They told the judge that claim was

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false and not supported by the evidence. And they said

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something interesting. They said they never relied on that eyewitness

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in the first place. They said their case was built

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on circumstantial evidence they described as extremely strong. So even

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if you took that one witness out entirely, they argued,

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the conviction stands. Last Thursday, Judge Nicholas Thompson agreed with

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the prosecution n the motion for a new trial, and

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that's the end of the road. Stein's sentencing is now

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scheduled for July tenth, and under Florida law, a conviction

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for felony murder carries a mandatory life sentence. There is

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no negotiating that number. The judge doesn't get to feel generous.

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Thomas Stein is going to prison for the rest of

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his life, and the only thing left to happen is

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for someone to say it out loud in a courtroom.

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Kayla rinkn Miller was fifteen. She was walking home from

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a movie, pretending to be on a runway for her friends.

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She should be getting ready for her senior year. Instead,

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two people are headed to prison, and the longer of

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those two sentences belongs to the one who pulled the

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trigger on a child for the contents of her bag.

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Will cover the sentencing on July tenth. Welcome back. Last

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story today, and this is the one I want you

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to really pay attention to, because it's less about what

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happened on the street and more about what's happening in

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the courtroom. Alisa Toth was sixty five years old. On

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October twenty first, twenty twenty five. She was standing on

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a public sidewalk in Miami outside a house that belonged

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to a man she did not know, a seventy two

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year old man named Jacob Coljas, and by the prosecution's account,

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Coljas came out of his house, told her to leave,

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and pushed her. She fell backward. She hit her head

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on the concrete. Cole has called nine one one to

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report that someone had fallen on the sidewalk outside his home.

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When officers arrived, Alisa wasn't responsive. First responders noted she

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appeared to be under the influence of a stimulant, and

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I want to be careful and fair here. That's an

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observation at the scene, not the cause of her death.

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The cause of her death was a CT scan that

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showed internal bleeding, a traumatic brain injury, and a subdural

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heman toma. She was declared brain dead on November first.

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She passed away on November sixth. The medical examiner ruled

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it a homicide, the result of blunt force trauma of

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hitting her head on a sidewalk after prosecutors say being pushed.

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Now watch how the charges move, because this is the

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whole story. Colejas was first charged back in December with battery.

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Then in April, prosecutors filed a notice saying they would

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not prosecute that charge. They let it go. And here's

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the detail that matters. If they'd kept pursuing that original

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battery charge, the speedy trial clock would have run out

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on June tenth. Then on June twelfth, two days after

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that deadline, prosecutors came back and filed a brand new

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charge second degree murder. He was arrested, he's being held

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without bond, and this is where the defense makes its move.

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Colas's attorneys have filed a motion that says, in effect,

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you can't do this. They can see the murder charge

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is a different charge, but they argue that because it

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stems from the same alleged action, the same push, the

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same fall, the same sidewalk, the speedy trial limit that

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ran out on June tenth should apply to the new

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charge too. In their words, at no point was there

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a delay attributable to the defendant, So they argue the

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clock ran out and the murder charge is barred period. Look,

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I'm gonna be honest with you. Speedy trial rules exist

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for a real reason. They exist so the government can't

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leave somebody charged in twisting forever, can't hold an accusation

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over a person's head for years without ever taking them

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to trial. That is a genuine protection, and it protects

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innocent people. I'm not gonna stand here and tell you

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the rule is garbage, because it isn't. But there's a

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playbook for this, and the playbook says, if you can't

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win on what happened, win on when it was filed,

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find the deadline, find the technicality, run out the clock,

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and walk through the gap. A sixty five year old

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woman is dead on a sidewalk. The medical examiner called

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it a homicide. And the argument on the table right

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now isn't whether Jacob Cole has pushed her. It's whether

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a calendar should make that question disappear before a jury

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ever gets to hear it. A judge, Michelle Delancey, was

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scheduled to hear that motion on June twenty second, which

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is yesterday as you're hearing this. So by the time

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these words reach you, there may already be a ruling,

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and we'll bring it to you the moment it's confirmed.

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But I'll leave you with the thing I keep coming

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back to. Accountability doesn't have a legal department. Alisa Toff

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doesn't get a do over, and a clock on a

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courthouse wall shouldn't get to decide whether she ever mattered.

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So that's today, And before I let you go, let's

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do what we always do. Let's say their names. Jade

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Benning was twenty five. She was carrying a baby girl

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who never got a name at all. She spent the

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last ten days of her life in a hospital and

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she died on her own birthday. A jury Bashville is

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going to decide what happened to her, But whatever they decide,

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she deserves to be more than a footnote to a

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football resume. Kayla Ringcone Miller was fifteen. She was walking

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home from a movie, pretending to be on a runway,

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laughing with her friends. The young man who killed her

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is going to spend his life in prison, and there's

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nothing in that sentence that gives her family a single

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day back. And Alisa Toth was sixty five. She was

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standing on a public sidewalk. She had every right to

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be there. And right now the fight isn't over who

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pushed her. It's over whether a deadline gets to bury

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the question. Three people, three families, and three different ways

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the system can either show up or look away. We'll

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be watching all of it. I'm Garrett Fisher until tomorrow.

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Do better before you go. If today's episode hit you

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the way it hit me, do me a favor, share it,

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send it to one person who follows these cases the

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way you do. Word of mouth is the entire reason

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this show grows, and it costs you nothing but a tap.

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And if you're listening on Spotify, drop a comment and

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tell me what you think. Which of these cases you

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want us to stay on, What you want to hear

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more about I read though, if you're watching on YouTube

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or catching us anywhere else, let us know there too.

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The following is a spoken disclaimer regarding today's cases. Blaize

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Taylor has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first

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degree murder and two counts of felony murder in the

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depths of Jade Benning and her unborn child, and is

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presumed innocent as of this recording. Jury selection in his

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Nashville trial began Monday, June twenty second. Proceedings may have

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advanced by the time you hear this. Taylor's age has

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been reported as twenty seven and twenty eight in earlier coverage,

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and as thirty more recently. We have used the most

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recent figure. Testimony about a late night phone call and

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toxicology findings, including the presence of cocaine, come from pre

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trial hearings and reporting reviewed by Court TV. None of

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it has yet been weighed by a trial jury, and

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the defense is contesting the forensic evidence. These are allegations,

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not verdicts. Thomas Stein has been convicted of felony murder

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with a firearm and three counts of attempted murder in

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the death of Kayla Rinkin Miller. A judge has denied

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his motion for a new trial. He has not yet

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been sentenced. Sentencing is scheduled for July tenth, where Florida

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law provides for a mandatory life sentence. Co defendant Christopher

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Horn's resolution has been reported in some accounts as a

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guilty plea and in others as a no contest plea

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to second degree murder. He was sentenced to twenty five years.

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Details may be updated as the sentencing approaches. Jacob Coljas

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has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder in the

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death of Elisa Tooth and is presumed innocent. The defense

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motion to bar the charge on speedy trial grounds was

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set for a hearing before Judge Michelle Delancey on June

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twenty second. As of this recording, we do not have

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a ruling and the outcome may differ by the time

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you hear this. The observation that the victim appeared to

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be under the influence of a stimulant was a first

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responder note at the scene and was not the ruled

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cause of death, which the medical examiner determined to be

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blunt force trauma. Some details in today's episode derived from

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single news outlets and court filings, and may be updated

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as each case proceeds.