Former Virginia Tech LB Isi Etute lands at Iowa Western Community College after acquittal,
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Former Virginia Tech LB Isi Etute lands at Iowa Western Community College after acquittal

Mike Niziolek Jul 25, 2022

Former Virginia Tech linebacker Isimemen Etute will get a chance to play football this season following his acquittal on a second-degree murder charge in May. ... According to Etute’s lawyer, Jimmy Turk, Etute is set to enroll at Iowa Western Community college later this week. ... “He reached out to them himself, and talked with the coaches,” Turk said, in a phone interview on Monday. “I think it’s going to be a good fit.”

Etute participated in spring camp at Virginia Tech as a then-18-year-old early enrollee in 2021. He was arrested and charged with second-degree murder — a charge that carries a sentence of five to 40 years — for the fatal beating of Jerry Paul Smith, a Blacksburg restaurant worker, in a case that drew national attention.

They connected on Tinder with Smith, who identified as an openly gay man, presenting himself online as a 21-year-old emergency room physician named Angie Renee. ... Smith performed oral sex on Etute in April 2021, and Etute returned to the apartment with two of his former teammates the next month seeking to determine if Smith was a man or woman.

Etute, who entered the apartment alone, testified that Smith swung at him and reached under the mattress for what he presumed was a gun once Etute discovered Smith’s true identity with the flashlight on his cellphone. ... Police searching Smith’s apartment found a knife hidden between the mattress and box spring in the spot where Etute alleged the attack took place. ... A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury found Etute not guilty on May 31.

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“I think Isi will excel wherever he goes,” Turk said. “I really do.”

mike.niziolek@roanoke.com