Virginia
Former Va. Tech football player found not guilty in beating death of gay man
Defense lawyer said victim tricked 18-year-old into having sex
A Montgomery County, Va., jury on May 27 acquitted a former Virginia Tech football player of second-degree murder for the May 2021 beating death of a gay man who was dressed in women’s clothes when the two men engaged in sex after meeting through the online dating site Tinder.
At the time of his arrest last year, Isimemen Etute, 19, who was 18 at the time of the incident, told police he acted in self-defense after learning that victim Jerry Paul Smith, 40, tricked him into thinking he was a woman when he allowed Smith to perform oral sex on him at Smith’s Blacksburg, Va., apartment on April 10, 2021.
Etute told police he returned to Smith’s apartment in May of that year to determine whether Smith was a man or a woman, according to the Roanoke Times. The newspaper reports that Etute testified at his trial that a confrontation broke out inside Smith’s apartment after Etute saw that Smith was a man. He testified at his three-day trial last week that he began punching Smith after Smith appeared to be reaching for a weapon under the mattress of his bed, possibly a gun.
Police discovered a knife under the mattress at the time they found Smith’s badly beaten body on the bedroom floor.
Prosecutors presented a witness from the county medical examiner’s office who testified that most of the bones in Smith’s face were broken, he had bleeding and swelling in his brain, and had multiple teeth knocked out.
The Associated Press reports that Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Jensen argued at the trial that the injuries suffered by Smith indicated Etute acted with malice and Smith could not have posed a threat to him after he was initially punched by Etute.
“I felt violated,” Etute testified at the trial, according to the AP and the Roanoke Times “I was just in shock, in disbelief that someone tricked me and lied to me,” the Times quoted Etute as telling the judge and jury.
His attorney, Jimmy Turk, told the jury that Smith was a “deceitful and dishonest man” who “defrauded young men for his own sexual gratification,” the Roanoke Times reports. “Who is the real victim here?” the newspaper quoted Turk as telling the jury in his closing arguments. “This was a wicked sexual ruse.”
Prosecutor Jensen called on Circuit Court Judge Mike Fleenor to instruct the jury that the defense could not use a so-called “gay panic defense” on Etute’s behalf because the Virginia General Assembly last year passed a law outlawing the gay and transgender panic defense in criminal trials.
The law, similar to laws passed by other states, says juries cannot consider a violent act to be justified by someone who finds out someone else’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
According to the Roanoke Times, the judge said the law would have applied in this case, but it did not take effect until after the incident in which Etute assaulted Smith took place and so the law could not be applied retroactively.
The Times and AP report that the jury handed down its not guilty verdict after deliberating for just three hours.
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
Virginia
Repealing marriage amendment among Va. House Democrats’ 2026 legislative priorities
Voters approved Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006
Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates on Monday announced passage of a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is among their 2026 legislative priorities.
State Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) has introduced the resolution in the chamber. State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) is the sponsor of an identical proposal in the state Senate.
Both men are gay.
Voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin last year signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
A resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2021. The resolution passed again this year.
Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot.
Democrats on Election Day increased their majority in the House of Delegates. Their three statewide candidates — Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi, and Attorney General-elect Jay Jones — will take office in January.
“Virginians elected the largest House Democratic Majority in nearly four decades because they trust us to fight for them and deliver real results,” said House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) on Monday in a press release that announced his party’s legislative priorities. “These first bills honor that trust. Our agenda is focused on lowering costs, lifting wages, expanding opportunity, protecting Virginians rights, and ensuring fair representation as Donald Trump pushes Republican legislatures across the country to manipulate congressional maps for partisan gain. House Democrats are ready to meet this moment and deliver the progress Virginians expect.”
Virginia
Ghazala Hashmi names Equality Virginia executive director to transition team
Narissa Rahaman will join Adam Ebbin, Mark Sickles on LG-elect’s committee.
Virginia Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi has named Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman to her transition team.
State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and state Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) are among those who Hashmi also named to her Transition Committee.
“I am honored to have this diverse group of leaders join our transition,” said Hashmi in a statement. “Their experience, perspective, and commitment to public service will help build an Office of the Lieutenant Governor that is responsive, innovative, and relentlessly focused on improving the lives of every Virginia resident.”
“Together, we will develop a thoughtful roadmap for the work ahead — one that ensures we are engaging communities, strengthening partnerships across the state, and preparing this office to serve with purpose and conviction from Day One,” she added. “I am grateful to each member for bringing time, expertise, and passion to this effort.”
Hashmi, a Democrat, defeated Republican John Reid, who is openly gay, on Nov. 4.
Hashmi will succeed outgoing Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears on Jan. 17.
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