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A jury began deliberating Wednesday in the murder retrial of former Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy Jason Meade, who is charged in the December 2020 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. in Ohio. The case returns to court more than two years after a first trial ended in a mistrial. Meade, a Baptist pastor who is white, is once again awaiting a verdict after prosecutors and defense lawyers presented competing accounts of what led to the fatal shots.
Prosecutors said the shooting happened when Goodson, who is Black, tried to enter his grandmother’s house. The state’s theory is that Meade shot Goodson five times in the back as he moved toward the home. Meade faces charges of murder and reckless homicide for the shooting.
The first trial in 2024 ended in a mistrial, and the retrial resumed with Meade again facing a jury’s assessment of his actions and his claims of fear. During the earlier trial, Meade testified that he pursued Goodson after Goodson waved a gun while the two men were driving past one another, and that he believed his life and the lives of others were in danger. In that testimony, Meade said he eventually shot Goodson because Goodson turned toward him with a gun.
In closing arguments Wednesday, defense attorney Mark Collins told jurors that Meade had to decide whether the gun he had already seen twice would be the one that killed him. Collins argued that Meade did not have a “pause button,” “a crystal ball,” and “no duty to wait for the first shot,” and asked the jury to acquit. He said the law does not require perfection from law enforcement officers, but requires reasonableness.
Special prosecutor Howard Tim Merkle pressed jurors to question the defense’s account of self-defense. Merkle asked, “Who’s got a motive here to deceive?” and argued that the defense had failed to show Meade was defending his life when he shot Goodson. Merkle pointed to the state’s view of the shot placement, saying the evidence included six shots in Goodson’s back and not in his front, while noting that one of the six shots was in Goodson’s side.
Prosecutors also emphasized evidentiary gaps in the case, saying there is no bodycam video of the shooting. They have repeatedly asserted that Meade was the only person who testified that Goodson was holding a gun. Goodson’s family and legal team have said Meade was holding back a different account of what Goodson had at the time, saying Goodson was holding a Subway sandwich bag in one hand and keys in the other.
The teams did not dispute that Goodson may have been carrying a gun, but Goodson’s family and legal team said he had a license to carry a firearm. Prosecutors said Goodson’s weapon was found under his body on his grandmother’s kitchen floor with the safety mechanism engaged.
Outside the courtroom, the shooting has also fueled civil litigation. Goodson’s family said it reached a $7 million civil settlement in 2024 in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county, according to the reporting. The case has drawn attention in the broader backdrop of protests that swept the nation after the murder of George Floyd, and after several other killings of Black people by white Ohio law enforcement officers over the previous decade.