— Former Virginia Tech football player Isimemen Etute was found not guilty Friday in the beating death of Jerry Paul Smith following a three-day trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
The second-degree murder case drew widespread attention last year because of the unusual circumstances: a college athlete who admitted fatally beating an openly gay man who had posed as a woman on Tinder to initiate a sexual encounter. Etute’s attorneys argued the beating was self-defense in a confrontation between the two in which the man’s true identity was revealed.
When the verdict was read to the courtroom, Etute’s father, David, collapsed in his seat while his wife Nichelle sobbed. Etute lifted his defense attorney Jimmy Turk off the ground in a bear hug with both of them crying. Smith’s family quickly left the room.
Turk spoke to reporters outside the courthouse after watching bailiffs remove the ankle bracelet Etute had been required to wear since being bonded out of jail on June 9.