Ever hear of it? I hadn’t heard of this case until today when commenter “j e” wrote a comment about the verdict in the second degree murder case, which was an acquittal.
The facts of the case are both disturbing and of the type that one would think would mean that the case would get very widespread sensationalist coverage in the media. The fact that – at least as far as I know – it’s gotten mostly local coverage is interesting. And yet it’s got racial angles and sexual angles, and the story slightly resembles the plot of the movie “The Crying Game” gone even more horribly, horrifically wrong.
Here’s a summary
A jury found former Virginia Tech football player Isimemen “Isi” Etute not guilty of second-degree murder Friday in the death of Blacksburg resident Jerry Paul Smith.
The verdict was rendered after a three-day trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court that occurred almost a year after the beating death of Smith, 40, who posed as a woman named “Angie Renee” and matched with Etute on Tinder. Etute’s attorneys argued self-defense after an altercation between the two in Smith’s apartment when he was revealed to be a man…
Etute and Smith had an initial sexual encounter in April 2021 in Smith’s downtown Blacksburg apartment during which he, presenting as Angie, performed oral sex on Etute, who was a freshman linebacker at the time. After discovering upon a second meeting with Angie on May 31 last year that it was not a woman but Smith, a man, Etute said he struck Smith several times and kicked him as he left Smith’s apartment.
Upon questioning from Jensen, forensic pathology specialist Dr. Amy Tharp described a brutal beating that left nearly every bone in Smith’s face broken, his brain swollen and teeth knocked out. Jensen noted the size difference between Etute, who is 6 feet 2 ½ and over 200 pounds, and the 153-pound Smith.
“Only two people know what happened in that room and one of them is dead,” Jensen said during his closing argument.
Please read this article as well. Excerpt:
[Etute’s defense lawyer] Turk also said Smith was “controlling the entire environment and the entire episode.” He added that Smith had “demanded that it be dark” and had hidden a knife under his mattress “in case there was something awry.”…
Turk also argued that [Etute didn’t initially mention to police that he thought Smith was reaching for a knife or that he had fear of Smith because] police didn’t ask Etute essential questions about Smith’s knife or Etute’s fear while in the apartment, two questions whose answers could have shown whether Etute was afraid for his life and acting in self-defense.
In taking the stand earlier in the week, Etute had testified that he felt “violated” when he discovered that the Tinder match he believed to be a woman was actually a man.
In his testimony Thursday, Etute had testified that Smith reached for what Etute thought was a gun. Smith did not own a gun, but police reported finding a knife between the man’s mattress and box spring.
Etute said he punched Smith five times and kicked him to gain time to escape the apartment.
Jensen had maintained that Etute had not acted in self-defense. He argued that after Etute punched Smith and Smith fell to the floor, there was “no way” Smith could have reached a weapon under his mattress.
“He could never reach a gun from there,” Jensen said.
Jensen recalled the testimony of medical examiner Dr. Amy Tharp, who Jensen said testified Smith had been the victim of a “brutal beating.”
Jensen said that while Etute was wearing flip-flops at the time of the encounter, those shoes were attached to a “big person” and a “strong person.” He compared Etute, an “elite college athlete,” to Smith, who weighed 153 pounds (just under 70 kilograms).
“That’s a big disparity,” Jensen said.
It seems odd to me that Etute wouldn’t have initially mentioned to police that he feared for his life if in fact that was the case. I don’t know enough of the details of the evidence to what I would have voted had I been on the jury, but I do wonder whether the verdict would have been the same had the races been reversed – that is, if a huge, young, strong, athletic white man had beaten to death a small somewhat older transgender black man posing as a woman.
I wonder, but I think I know that answer: the verdict would have been “guilty” or the jury would have been hung, and the case would have gotten a great deal more national publicity than it did.
