Prosecutors want to drop one of two murder charges against former Franklin County Sheriffs SWAT Deputy Jason Meade for killing Casey Goodson Jr.
Meade was charged with two counts of murder and one count of reckless homicide for killing Goodson in 2020 in Columbus. Meade's first court proceeding ended in a mistrial in February after a jury couldn't come to a unanimous decision on the three charges.
Special Prosecutors H. Tim Merkle and Gary Schroyer and Montgomery County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Shaw filed the motion on Friday. The motion said the team wishes to drop the murder charge that alleges Meade purposefully murdered Goodson.
The second murder charge alleging Meade caused Casey Goodson Jr.'s death during a felonious assault and the reckless homicide charge would remain.
Meade's defense attorneys Mark Collins, Kaitlyn Stephens and Steven Nolder criticized the special prosecutors for charging Meade with purposeful murder in the first place.
"These prosecutors subjected Jason Meade to the peril of being convicted of a purposeful murder, a charge that carries a life sentence. Now knowing that the public knows these same facts, the State has chosen to walk away from the purposeful murder count. Justice is supposed to be a two-way street," the statement said.
Before the mistrial was declared, Judge David Young said the jurors were asked multiple questions on whether or not they can return a verdict of "yes" on one count that Meade was justified in shooting Casey Goodson Jr. in December 2020 and that he was not justified on another count.
Meade was with a U.S. Marshals task force on an unsuccessful fugitive search when he claimed he saw Goodson waving a gun inside a car. Even though Goodson was not the subject of the search, Meade pursued Goodson to a family home in the Northland area. Meade shot Goodson six times in the back outside the home. Meade claims Goodson ignored requests to drop the gun.
Goodson’s family and prosecutors have said he was holding a sandwich bag in one hand and his keys in the other when he was fatally shot. They do not dispute that Goodson may have been carrying a gun and note he had a license to carry a firearm.
Jury selection is set to begin Oct. 31 in the new trial, with testimony scheduled to begin on Nov. 4.
The prosecuting team declined to comment further. The team said it intended to retry the case after the mistrial was declared.
