Prosecutors and defense attorneys gave their closing arguments in the Michael Jason Meade trial Wednesday before the case was handed over to the jury.
Prosecutors questioned the credibility of the former Franklin County Sheriff's deputy and said he acted outside of his police duties when he shot and killed Casey Goodson Jr. in Dec. 2020 in North Linden.
Meade faces charges of murder and reckless homicide.
The defense says the state didn't prove its case and Meade acted as any reasonable police officer would have. Meade shot Goodson six times in the back. Meade said Goodson started to turn toward him with a gun pointed in his direction when he fired his assault rifle.
Since the trial began at the beginning of the month, jurors heard from use of force consultants, police officers, paramedics, bystanders, forensic experts, Goodson's family and Meade himself.
During closing arguments, special prosecutor Tim Merkle said Goodson did nothing wrong on the day Meade killed him.
"...But had the terrible misfortune. Of crossing the path of Michael Jason Meade, an aggressive, arrogant and remorseless officer," Merkle said.
Merkle said records show Goodson was listening to music in ear buds during the lead up to the shooting, and that he was dancing and singing in his car, not waving a gun around and pointing it at people, as the defense claimed. He said Goodson was oblivious to Meade.
The defense argued Goodson saw Meade tying to stop him and purposefully tried to get away from him, making him think he was a threat.
Defense attorney Mark Collins said Goodson pointed a gun at Meade. He said prosecutors failed to prove Meade acted outside his scope as a law enforcement officer, so prosecutors pulled on the jurors' heart strings.
"They have a dog and pony show, ladies and gentlemen. They wrap it with sympathy. They wrap it with a scary gun. And they want you to fall for that," Collins said.
Collins reminded the jury that they can't judge Meade's actions with 20/20 hindsight.
"The relevant legal consideration is not what the defendant officer should have known or should have done, but whether the reasonable police officer could have believed about the situational need to use deadly force," Collins said.
Merkle said Meade has been deceitful and the physical evidence supports the prosecution.
"The physical evidence doesn't lie, ladies and gentlemen. People do," Merkle said. "Six shots in the back. No matter how Mr. Collins and defense attorney (Steve) Nolder twist and turn, it is still six shots in the back."
While Merkle poked holes in Meade's statements and testimony, Collins argued the defense has been consistent.
"Consistency is not a coincidence. Corroboration is not a coincidence," Collins said.
Collins said the prosecution was "desperate" and made a "preposterous" case, that Meade's actions and statements were consistent with what's expected of a police officer.
"And (Merkle) has the audacity to get up here and say this was a cover up," Collins said.
Collins said Merkle's big "Perry Mason moment" failed to prove anything more than the prosecutor mincing words, because Meade's original statement said Goodson was "moving quickly" and he said Goodson was "running" on the stand.
Merkle said Meade had no right to assume Goodson was a danger just because he was going into a house with a gun.
"'He's going in the house with a gun? I had to, I had to stop him. I had to stop him.' There was nothing that (Goodson) had done that indicated that he needed to be stopped," Merkle said.
Goodson had a concealed carry permit and was legally allowed to have the gun.
