The Etute trial
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.
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.
Does it say in either article that Smith was white?
It’s not clear to me whether these Tinder dates involved the exchange of money. Complaints about an “epidemic” of murders of “transgenders” fail to mention that many of the cases are of men pretending to be women and going out as prostitutes. Of course the rage which comes from clients who discover the “woman” isn’t one in no way excuses murder. It’s a dangerous thing to do.
If the jury thought Etude didn’t intend to kill Smith, I don’t entirely understand why they didn’t find him guilty of involuntary manslaughter, since he did administer the beating. One punch and Etude running away would have been a different matter. That could have plausibly been self-defense.
Kate:
I read a lot of articles about it, but the two I quoted don’t give Smith’s race. However, he was white.
Here are photos of Etute and Smith.
Kate:
One of the articles said that Etute gave Smith $50 at the first encounter. At least, that’s what I recall.
That point about the extent of the beating was one that the prosecutor made. The jury didn’t buy it, apparently. But it seems rather obvious to me from the articles that, even according to Etute’s own story, so many blows didn’t make sense. Of course, the articles just summarize the proceedings so it’s hard to tell for sure exactly what all the evidence was.
Thanks, Neo.
It may be that a small-town jury was not sympathetic to a transgender prostitute. In my view, murder is murder, even if I don’t care for the victim. But juries sometimes decide against what look like cases of clear guilt.
Race was indeed the biggest factor, as convicting Etude would be ‘proof’ of the jury’s racism. Etude’s ‘understandable’ outrage at Smith’s deceit was rationalized by the jury as justification for murder. The knife is window dressing for Etude’s lawyers claim of self-defense.
The truth of it is obvious. Had the races been reversed, it would have been national news beaten to death by the mass media.
A critic of the decision said the jury elected to treat the defendant as above criticism but beneath agency.
What’s curious is that it happened in Montgomery County, Va., which is only 4% black.
Does anyone know how many jurors in the Etute case were male and how many female? If the transgender apologists are correct (and I’m not saying they are), male jurors are supposedly more likely to excuse the murder of a transgender prostitute on the grounds that the defendant was justifiably provoked to rage.
My understanding is that there was in fact a knife under the mattress of Smith’s bed. One could infer that Smith was expecting that one of his sexual partners just might become dangerously enraged if he (i.e., Smith’s sexual partner) discovered Smith’s ruse.
Once we accept as reasonable, which it is, that a duped sexual partner might naturally become enraged, I think we have to accept the fact that such an enraged person might deliver an explosive series of punches and kicks that would not stop until after the perpetrator (i.e., the fraudster) was non-responsive.
By broad analogy, what Smith did was like pointing even a replica gun at a bunch of police officers. Once Smith duped Etute, it was as if Smith set Etute on automatic pilot.
According to the linked stories, Etude went to the second appointment because he wasn’t convinced Smith was a woman, and pulled out his phone’s flashlight and pulled back Smith’s hoodie to learn the truth. Smith lunged for what Etude thought would be gun under the mattress, and Etude beat him to a pulp. Makes this sound more like premeditated rather than sudden rage. It would be interesting to know if jurors were Va Tech employees or academics.
There have been a couple of cases in the Charlotte area of transgender prostitutes being killed by enraged customers. I think in those cases both prostitutes and customers were black.
Kate:
I’ve read that one of the hazards of being a prostitute – especially of the streetwalker type – is the higher risk of being murdered by a john who gets angry or is already angry and out to kill.
It does seem that Etute (no “d” in his name) went back to Smith’s place already angry. Smith probably had the knife for self-protection. Smith was playing a dangerous game, but in no way does that justify what Etute did. Was the story that Smith was reaching for something even true? We have no way of knowing because the only evidence is from the perp and/or his friends who weren’t in the room.
“What’s curious is that it happened in Montgomery County, Va., which is only 4% black.”
I suspect that makes the verdict more understandable.
The news media almost never covers murders by black offenders. See e.g. the murder of a girl that went to my kids’ high school and her boyfriend. As nasty, vicious, and evil as any you will ever hear about. The national news media refused to cover it. Reverse the races and the victims would be more famous than Trayvon, Michael Brown and George Floyd.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/2013/08/13/the-gruesome-story-of-a-murdered-tennessee-couple-you-may-have-never-heard-about-but-that-you-will-never-forget
Btw — a black in America is 10-12 times more likely to murder a white than vice versa. Can you imagine the screams of outrage if anyone ever publicized that fact? And how fast the cancelling would take place of the person who shared it.
As someone who advocated for civil rights back in the day when it was actually dangerous (and received the death threats by phone and mail), it is sad and frightening to see all the work flushed down the drain. Thank the Democrats and their minions.
Obama’s sponsors, Ayers and Dohrn and friends, actively worked to try to incite race wars in America. Their ideological bedfellows are still at it.
}}} Makes this sound more like premeditated rather than sudden rage.
I disagree. Etude may have merely meant to confront, but when he fully realized the deception, he may have easily lost it.
I believe blacks, in particular, have a strong group aversion to homosexuality, and even if not (Either did not apply to Etude or I am simply wrong), this is still a major line to cross with all men — a very serious one.
Such deception is inexcusable, and Smith clearly knew it, and knew it was considered a personal outrage offense. You do not grow up among men and NOT understand this. Education and experience may temper the reaction, but Etude had neither of those, being young and a fairly new student in college.
Hence: I don’t think that calling it “murder” is appropriate. At this point, from the evidence presented here (I did not read articles), I would say manslaughter is what it should have been. The beating was no doubt rage induced IMNSHO. YES: very much over the top, inexcusably so, but killing Smith need not have been the goal.
I more than amply agree, the transgression did not deserve death, but, on the other hand, yeah, to me, Smith certainly earned a beating. That’s crossing a line even for trans. You are wholly misrepresenting yourself to the extent that you clearly are concerned they may reject you if you were known to not be a female, and you KNOW THIS.
I think the beating should be far more measured, not to break bones, but certainly to induce a degree of misery.
The real problem there is that that may not discourage, but encourage, the perp, given that no doubt some of them experience guilt between religious teachings and inherent predilections, and may feel as though “they deserve it”. They kinda do, but that sort of masochism isn’t healthy at all. Any such beating should be educational, not penance.