Last week a jury acquitted a former Virginia Tech football player who had been accused of fatally beating a man he says he initially believed was a woman from a Tinder match. 19-year-old Isimemen Etute was found not guilty of a charge of second-degree murder in the 2021 death of Jerry Smith, 40, of Blacksburg. The jury deliberated for approx. three hours before coming back with a verdict The Roanoke Times reported.

Right after the verdict was announced, Smith’s family left the courtroom. The prosecuting attorney, Montgomery County Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Patrick Jensen, declined comment according to CBS News.

Prosecutors told the jury that Etute, who was 18 at the time, became enraged and fatally beat Smith when he found out Smith was a man. One of the prosecutors said at closing arguments Friday that Etute gave different versions of events to police and the jury, and that the charge may have been enough for him to change his testimony.

“He has a tremendous amount riding on this trial,” Jensen said during his closing argument, The Roanoke Times reported.

Defense attorney Jimmy Turk told the jurors last week, that the evidence was circumstantial, while the defense’s evidence, which included the testimony of Etute, was direct. Turk 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 argued that police didn’t ask Etute questions about Smith’s knife or Etute’s fear while in the apartment.

Etute testified that he felt “violated” when he found out that the Tinder match he believed was a woman was actually a man.

In his testimony, Etute added that Smith reached for what Etute believed was a gun. Smith didn’t own a gun, but police reported finding a knife between the man’s mattress and box spring. Etute says he punched Smith five times and kicked him to ensure he could escape the apartment.

Jensen maintained that Etute didn’t act in self-defense. He argued that after Etute punched Smith and Smith fell to the floor, there was “no way” Smith could have gotten to 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 says testified Smith had been the victim of a “brutal beating.”

Jensen said that while Etute was wearing flip-flops when the incident took place, those shoes were attached to a “big person” and a “strong person.” Jensen compared Etute, to an “elite college athlete,” to Smith, who weighed 153 pounds (just under 70 kilograms).

Read more:

The Black Panther Party Free Breakfast for School Children

The Negro Motorist Green Book: Black America’s guide through the Jim Crow era

Mississippi Appendectomy: The decades long practice of sterilizing poor black women