A Christiansburg jury has found former #Hokies linebacker Isi Etute not guilty of second degree murder.— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) May 27, 2022
CHRISTIANSBURG — 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 . https://t.co/PcsmB9XKY9— The Roanoke Times (@roanoketimes) May 27, 2022
Was facing second degree murder charge, jury could have reduced to voluntarily manslaughter, found not guilty instead— michaelniziolek (@michaelniziolek) May 27, 2022
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Comments
Good. Glad he'll have a chance to live a normal life after this
Wow, I had no idea the trial was going on. I kind of what to read into what actually came out of the whole situation but also I don't think I really want to know.
It was an oddly quick trial, happened over the last three days and wrapped up today.
It is all around sad. At least Etute doesn't get his entire life destroyed as well.
Police investigators found a knife between the mattress and box spring of the decedent's bed. Etute's lawyers argued that it was an act of self-defense when the man started reaching for something.
Anyone living in the NRV should know Jimmy Turk's name, best defense lawyer around. Cool to see one of his daughters is now part of his team.
Where you at in Michigan?
Um NRV =/= Michigan. Jus' sayin'.
I believe tjbhokie was commenting on notagadget's picture, not his post. Just a guess tho...
Didn't even notice the avatar.
I think the guilt of what happened will be punishment enough based on what I have gathered following the trial some.
Great news for Isi. Poor kid seems to be in a prison of his own mind after this traumatic event. Wishing him the best. He's obviously lost his VT scholarship and such, so hopefully he can find another opportunity to have success
Also, Jimmy Turk - very good at his job
Wow, I think I'd like to go over the transcript of this. 3 days for a murder trial.
*Puts on tin foil hat*
It almost seems like the authorities want to give as little attention as possible to a known sexual predator who has been alleged to be related to people in power and a police informant
I was on a jury for a 2nd degree murder trial that lasted 2 days. Day 1 was basically the witness testimony and day 2 was closing arguments, deliberations and sentencing. It was a pretty straightforward situation though. security camera footage of the entire incident. we deliberated longer on the sentence than the guilty verdict.
Same - was on a 1st degree murder jury. Really weird case but the defense was a heap of hail mary lies that weren't even coherent with each other. 4-day trial that was almost a mistrial due to a juror not disclosing being on pain meds from a car accident until day 3. She nearly got charged with contempt, too.
Deliberation was about 3 hours or so, I think. I remember the longest bit was waiting for the bailiff to bring some evidence that we wanted to review again. The death penalty was not being sought by the state and we weren't asked to make a sentence recommendation since life was the standard for 1st.
I feel bad for all parties because no one involved was in a great place in life before it happened and by all measures it only got worse.
The legend of Jimmy Turk grows larger
Jimmy Turk is a legal savant. He masterfully handled the defense. Cross examining the officer and asking if the conduct of the person who died constituted sexual battery. The prosecution jumped up quick to object and get the jury out of the room on that one. But the judge allowed it. And the officer saying yes we would have referred it to the CA was damning.
Also key: Jordan brunson testifying that Etute told him on June 11 about Smith reaching for something. The findings from the scene that detailed the location of the knife were not released until June 17
Agreed. The dual testimony of "reaching for something" really established that the individual was attempting to grab a gun, weapon of some sort. I thought Isi's own testimony that his family kept guns under/near their bed and have been robbed in the past reinforced his perspective. Really amazing and thorough defense.
Slippin jimmy for ya
Haven't wanted to comment on this, but justice was served today. Instead of getting an honest 18 year old man on some weak technicality to secure a conviction for the CA's office, he was rightly found not guilty. The man who died was a sexual predator and had allegedly been drugging people at a bar downtown. Nothing in the evidence convinced me that Isi intended to kill the guy. A horrible situation, but I think this is the correct outcome.
Also - this isn't my MO and won't again be. But Fuck Hokie 'numbers' over on 247. Railed against Isi from the beginning, arrogant as fuck, acts like because he's dating "a lawyer" he knows shit. Fuck off.
Let me also bury in here that a sub to other sites is a joke. You pay for a big scoop and it's all speculation/innuendo. These guys play off as gurus but they legit don't know anything that's not fed to them. Just stop and hang out on TKP and your sanity will thank you.
Edit - and I've been banned from that site for saying as such. Well at least don't need to hear another legal eagle spew his drunken bullshit. Maybe he will sell us some real estate now.
I agree on many points about 247. Outside of a few and I mean few people on 247 are nice people. The rest are TOXIC AF. They turn on players and recruits in a heartbeat if they do one thing they don't like. On top of other countless bullshit that I'm to tired too get into rn
Yup there's maybe <5 good posters on there, the rest are trash
After the Buzz Williams thing, nobody should pay a premium for "insider" information. Nobody - no VT "insider" had any clue we were hiring buzz. Nobody. A real insider would have at least floated that possibility out there.
So this was the perve that catfished Isi?
Man, it sucks all around bc someone is dead, and Isi has to live with that.
On the flip side, it would have been so embarrassing as a football player to go to the police and report a sexual assault through a catfishing. That might have been a tougher case as the plaintiff. The police may not have pursued a case against Smith. That question by Turk piqued the jury.
I leave one request: take accusers of sexual assault seriously. Give them the benefit of the doubt. So many stay silent until something terrible happens.
Exactly. Take all accusers of sexual assault seriously and follow through with a legitimate investigation. They don't make accusations for funzies, especially if they file a police report.
Except the stripper that accused the Duke lacrosse team of raping her (who was probably hoping for a well-paid settlement), and then the DA fails to disclose that the DNA tests cleared all the players. I hate when people make false accusations, because then I feel like people are less likely to take other accusations seriously (and that doesn't even include the consequences to the accused - like how students and professors at Duke wanted those players expelled (so much for innocent until proven guilty). Druckenmiller also got accused of raping a girl, which ultimately he was acquitted of. Not saying to not take accusations seriously, but would at least put emphasis on the innocent until proven guilty part. Which is also tough because I've read where police have intentionally swept stuff under the rug related to FL State players because people around there love their football team so much.
Justice 4 Turntle!
Not too violent stuff, but that happened (happens) in C'ville based on stories I've been told by alumn that were close to athletes. Petit larceny, drunk driving, drunk in public, bar fights, etc....
Although I haven't read specifics of other cases, I did read that the Tallahassee police dept. pressured the girl who accused Jamies Winston of sexual assault to drop the case and she ultimately did because of the pressure and that they wouldn't investigate it properly or sweep it under the rug. Well, and the utter shit-show of Baylor burying all the sexual assaults. I'm sure there are more.
No. You still take it seriously. And investigate throughly. Always take it seriously. Taking it seriously doesn't mean that you have already solved the crime and can punish the accused. It means that you don't just dismiss the accusations off hand without investigating.
EDIT: upon rereading your comment I think it's possible I misinterpreted your first sentence. I'll leave it for posterity but I think you and I are on the same page here. Carry on.
In retrospect, starting it with "Except" probably wasn't the right way to go to say I agree. Just don't want the false accusations to a) get people thinking accusations may be false and b) have someone who actually lived through that to not be (fully?) believed because other people had made false allegations.
My understanding is that they looked at perjury proceedings against the girl who accused the lacrosse players, but between drugs she was on (apparently a lot) and other mental health issues, the prosecutor decided she may have actually believed some of the stuff, so didn't press charges.
Hate that Isi lost a year of his life on hoise arrest, and has to live with knowing that he ended someone's life. Also, from all the accounts I've read about Smith since this happened, sounds like a true sexual predator is off the streets.
Overall though, not a bad year to be on house arrest when you think about it
Turk is really something else!
I'd like to hire him just to win an argument with my wife once in a while.
LOL have your leg
He isn't trying to convince your wife.
He's trying to convince a single juror.
You haven't learned that even when you win, you lose?
Truth, 34 years of experience here. Applies to daughters as well.
Win the battle, lose the war...
If you are winning the argument, just take the knee and run out the clock.
I remember one of our opinionated "Hokie Twitter" lawyers (I don't know the person's real name) saying at the beginning that Turk was "out of his depth" given the nature of the case. I laughed immediately and thought "you must be new here." His dad was one of the most beloved judges in SWVA and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He is beloved by judges. He has a good jury presence. He makes solid legal arguments. I was not surprised by the verdict in the slightest, especially once we learned about the self-defense element given the presence of the knife. Also, I'm amazed that the prosecution did not anticipate the "would what Jerry Smith did constitute sexual battery" line of questioning. That should've been subject to a motion in limine (to exclude/prohibit) months ago.
He's a really nice guy too. I used to work at the Blacksburg Country Club in college as a golf attendant and he always used to chew the fat with us kids. Good tipper too.
Would love to see him come back to VT, but probably better for him to start fresh somewhere else
Yeah I think it would be way to rough for him to be in Blacksburg after this. What a terrible situation. Hopefully things work out for him.
I think it's going to be tough for him anywhere, but I hope he can figure it out and move forward with his life.
I gotta say, getting a murder case to trial in a year, especially with an out of custody defendant, is extremely impressive in itself.
Also, mad props to Jimmy Turk. That one seemed scary.