When laying out the case for granting bond, Etute's attorney had the 18-year-old and his mother take the stand. The offender clearly consented to this and could have made a decision to leave and instead of leaving, made a decision to kill someone.. Earlier this year, the Virginia House and Senate approved a bill that bans what is sometimes called the gay panic or LGBTQ panic defense. Both experts testified about a frothy fluid coming out of Smiths mouth that ran down his sweatshirt in the crime scene photos. It certainly is one that could be investigated as a possible federal hate crime, said Brian Levin, a law professor at California State University and director of the schools Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. Isimemen David Etute, left, listens to his defense team in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Christiansbur on Friday. A Montgomery County judge certified on Sept. 23 a charge of second-degree murder of Blacksburg resident Jerry Paul Smith against Isimemen David Etute, suspended Virginia Tech football player. In an email earlier this year to the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of HB 2132, Carsten Andresen, a Texas criminal justice professor, said there have been at least eight cases in Virginia in which defense attorneys used gay and trans panic arguments. Etute was arrested on June 2 and charged with second-degree murder.He was released on $75,000 bond on Wednesday and is to remain under house arrest and electronic monitoring. The gallery reacts at the conclusion of Isimemen David Etute trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Christiansburg on Friday. Former Virginia Tech football player Isimemen Etute found not guilty in beating death of Blacksburg man. 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According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations most recent hate crime statistics, from 2019, 16.7% of hate crime victims were targeted because of their sexual orientation and 2.7% because of their gender identity. Virginia Tech freshman football player Isimemen Etute was arrested and charged with second-degree murder Wednesday. Etute and his parents who left the courtroom through a back exit didnt have a statement to make at this time, according to Turk. Turks remarks prompted waves of comments online and elsewhere. He can be reached at mike.gangloff@roanoke.com or (540) 381-1669. Etute, a freshman on . Prosecutors say Etute met Smith through a dating app, but the 18-year-old thought that Smith was a woman named Angie. 1 ranking in country, Radford coach Darris Nichols apologizes for DUI. 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Ismemen David Etute, who appeared in Montgomery County District Court in Virginia on . The gay/trans panic offense was recently struck out of Virginia law so regardless of any other details surrounding what happened, if he was beaten to death this should still be tried as murder. Then he saw him (Smith) reach for something under the bed and hit him five to six times.. We've received your submission. Jerry Paul Smith. The campaign said that since it started tracking such violence in 2013, it has never witnessed so many deaths by this point in the year. Etute said he worried that Smith was attempting to grab a gun though he'd never seen a weapon which he said prompted him to punch Smith in an alleged act of self-defense. Turk was able to get the lead detective on the case, Ryan Hite, to tell the jury on Thursday during cross-examination that he would have referred Smiths actions in this case obtaining sex through false pretenses to the commonwealths attorney had he known about them. Isimemen Etute claims he "never intended to harm anyone" when he went to the apartment of a woman named Angie with whom he'd had a sexual encounter and discovered he had been intimate with Jerry Paul Smith. SUSPECT CHARGED WITH MURDER OF YOUNG BOY IN CALIFORNIA ROAD RAGE SHOOTING. At a bond hearing on Wednesday, attorneys for the state revealed that Etute allegedly told police he punched and stomped Smith . MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. (TCD) -- A former football player at Virginia Tech University was found not guilty of beating a man to death who posed as a woman on a dating app. Reactions to the killing of Jerry Paul Smith, a 40-year-old restaurant project manager, grew louder after a Wednesday bond hearing for Isimemen David Etute, 18, of Blacksburg. She walked through her family dynamic her sons background, his relationship with his family and their living situation. An autopsy revealed Smith, a restaurant worker, died from blunt force trauma to the head. Killing of Jerry Paul Smith called 'irrational,' Isi Etute defense called discriminatory. The prosecution maintained it was a straightforward case to the jury throughout the trial with crime scene photos jurors saw multiple photos of Smiths dead body lying at the foot of his bed including close ups of his bloody face as well as details from Smiths autopsy that highlighted what a one-sided assault it was. Female carer who bit off part of a pub landlady's ear during vicious bar brawl is jailed for 14 months. I did prepare him for the worst before today. At one point during Wednesdays bond hearing, Turk reportedly asked Etute clad in an orange prison jumpsuit how he had been impacted by the charges. The family asked that donations be sent in Jerry Smiths honor to St. Judes Childrens Hospital in lieu of flowers. Beaming Princess of Wales watches a young boy backflip during St David's Day Mike Tindall's latest money-making scheme! This is about preventing murder and assault," Roem added. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He was released on $75,000 bond on Wednesday and is to remain under house arrest and electronic monitoring. When do the clocks change in 2023? The medical examiner said he died of blunt force trauma, and the autopsy report revealed that every bone in his face was broken, he had missing teeth and he'd sustained multiple facial fractures, according to the paper. The Virginia Tech linebacker (pictured) allegedly stomped a man to death during a Tinder date after he discovered his date had been posing as a woman named 'Angie', Etute's mother (pictured left) told the court her son is not a flight risk and had never been in any trouble before, Etute told court he has never been in trouble with the law and that he was a model student who graduated high school early to start at Virginia Tech in January. Etute is on suspension from Virginia Tech and its football team during the investigation, the Associated Press reported. The defense painted a more complex picture of the case while emphasizing the criminal nature of Smiths conduct. Etute believed that the person he had hooked up with was a woman named Angie. The facts for the most part in this case are not contested, Jensen said, in his closing statement. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - A man found dead in Blacksburg this week died of blunt force injuries to the head, according to the Roanoke Medical Examiner's Office. Her body has been cremated. Cops found the badly beaten mans body one day later, the newspaper reported. 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He referred to Smith as a deceitful and dishonest man who defrauded young men for his own sexual gratification., Who is the real victim here? Turk said through tears. In anobituary, Smiths family remembered restaurant manager whose nephews nicknamed Gigi as a polite young man throughout his life. Born May 18, 1981 in Montgomery County, VA, he was the son of the late Jerry Wayne Smith and Sandra Cumbee Smith. Born May 18, 1981, in Montgomery County, VA, he was the son of the late Jerry Wayne Smith and Sandra Cumbee Smith. In the aftermath of Virginia Tech linebacker Isi Etute's arrest and second-degree murder charge, authorities have now revealed the official cause of death for Jerry Paul Smith, the 40-year-old . Last week, a spokesperson for Smiths family described him as a proud, openly gay man. Defense attorney Jimmy Turk leaves the courthouse with the Etute family in Christiansburg in June. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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Thats always nerve-wracking. Day three of the trial opened with the defense trying to call Etutes older brother Ehis to the stand. Mr Etute, who was a player at Virginia Tech, matched with Smith on the app and went to "Angie's . Jerry Paul Smith, 40 known as Gigi by his nephews of Blacksburg, VA departed this life, June 1, 2021, at his home. It is the right decision and right now Im still just overwhelmed.. Railroad shut down while police investigate reports of shots fired prior to injury accident.Railroad shut down while police investigate reports of shots fired prior to injury accident. The charges are a footnote to mistaken-gender killing, of which Isimemen David Etute was acquitted. He has been a reporter for The Roanoke Times for more than three decades. Etute, a member of Virginia Tech's 2021 recruiting class, was suspended from the team . Stomped Smith a proud, openly gay man his closing statement say met... 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