A former linebacker for the Virginia Institute of Technology who was found not guilty in the killing of a Tinder date has finally signed on to play with a small college in Iowa.
Former star high school recruit Isimemen Etute was 18 when he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jerry Smith, a gay man who impersonated a 21-year-old woman who was supposed to be an emergency room worker on the dating app Tinder. Etute faced five to 40 years if he had been convicted.
Ex-Virginia Tech football player Isimemen Etute acquitted of mistaken-gender-identity murder of Tinder date https://t.co/jMjhJHN1vo pic.twitter.com/uk7lURX1wY
— New York Post (@nypost) May 28, 2022
Smith reportedly performed oral and then offered anal sex to Etute in a dark room at his apartment and paid Etute $50 in May 2021. Afterwards, Etute was subjected to humiliation after word got out around the college town of Blacksburg, Virginia, that Smith was indeed a man.
Etute reportedly returned to the apartment to confront Smith and verify the authenticity of the rumors. Etute then punched Smith five times and kicked him on the ground after Etute said Smith was reaching for what he thought was a gun. Smith died from his injuries. Police did find a knife between the mattress and box spring that Smith was reportedly reaching for after his identity was exposed.
According to 10 News, the jury believed that Etute was defending himself from imminent harm or death and found him not guilty, saving him from a possible life sentence.
ESPN reports that Division I colleges who initially recruited Etute were scared off by the bad press and publicity and refused to recruit him after he was kicked off the Virgina Tech team following his arrest.
Etute finally signed on with Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, about 130 miles west of the capital city of Des Moines and close to Omaha, Nebraska. Though a very small school, it is very prominent in the NJCAA ranks. IWCC just appeared in the latest NJCAA Championship Game and has finished in the top five of the NJCAA Top 20 in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
