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(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Opening statements will begin Wednesday in the trial of a former sheriff’s deputy charged in the 2020 fatal shooting of a 23-year-old Black man who was entering his grandmother’s home in Columbus, Ohio. The trial begins more than three years after Casey Goodson Jr.’s death.
Jason Meade, a former deputy with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO), was charged with murder and reckless homicide in December 2021 in connection with the shooting. The trial begins one day after what would have been Goodson’s 27th birthday.
Meade, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Dec. 4, 2020, Meade was working with a U.S. Marshals task force searching for a wanted fugitive when he claims he saw Goodson waving a gun erratically from inside his car and then began tracking Meade, according to a December 2021 statement from Meade’s lawyers.
The former deputy claims he then followed Goodson home. Meade alleges that Goodson had a pistol in his right hand and a plastic bag in his left hand as he stood outside the door of his grandmother’s house, where he lived. Meade said he screamed at Goodson several times to show his hands but his commands were ignored, according to his attorneys’ statement.
When Goodson eventually turned to face the former deputy, Meade alleges Goodson pointed the barrel of the gun in Meade’s direction, so the deputy fired his weapon. Meade’s legal team declined ABC News’ request for comment Tuesday.
Police said a gun was found at the scene, but Goodson’s family said he was a legal gun owner. Goodson’s family claims he was returning from a dentist’s appointment, carrying a Subway sandwich and was wearing AirPods when Meade approached him and didn’t hear the officer’s commands.
Because Franklin County Sheriff’s task force officers are not issued body cameras, no video of the incident exists.
An autopsy report by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office said Goodson had been shot five times in the back and six times in total.
Nearly a year after the fatal shooting, on Dec. 2, 2021, a grand jury announced they had found enough evidence to charge Meade with two counts of murder and one count of reckless homicide in the shooting death of Goodson.
Following news of the indictment, Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin released a statement saying, in part, “I’ve reminded my staff that while everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, the standards for being a Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy must be even higher than that of our criminal justice system.”
Meade retired after 17 years with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in June 2021. Meade had been on administrative leave since the shooting, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
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