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A former Ohio sheriff's deputy was found guilty of reckless homicide on Thursday (May 7) for the fatal shooting of a Black man bringing sandwiches to his grandmother's house.
Jason Meade was charged with the death of Casey Goodson Jr. in December 2020. In his first trial, Meade told the jury that his shooting of Goodson was justified because he witnessed him waving a gun as their vehicles passed each other, according to CBS News.
Trial jurors couldn't agree on the charge of murder in the first trial, so the judge declared a mistrial on that count. This was Meade’s second trial, where he did not take the stand.
Although Goodman reportedly had a license to carry a firearm, no one else testified to seeing him waving a firearm, and Meade’s camera did not record the incident.
While prosecutors did ultimately find a gun on Goodson’s person, it was not in his hands as Meade had claimed, instead being found in a holder under his belt with the safety on.
According to Goodson’s family, he was carrying a bag of Subway sandwiches in one hand and his keys in the other, and was on his way to his grandmother’s house in Columbus, Ohio, on the day of the incident.
“I’m happy, I’m sad and I’m everywhere,” Tamala Payne, Goodson's mother, told WBNS, an affiliate of CBS. “You know, we’d all like to see him be found guilty of murder because what he did is murder Casey. But, to have him convicted of something is still a great feeling,” she said.
While prosecutors reportedly expressed that they were pleased with the guilty verdict, they have not yet decided whether to pursue a third trial on the murder charge.
Brian Steel, president and chief executive of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge #9, told the outlet that while he respects the jury’s decision, he was still ultimately disappointed with how the trial was conducted.
“This was long six years drawn out,” he said. “This is the second trial. I hope they're for the sake of not only the Meade family, the Goodson family and the community, I hope we don't try to do a third trial on this murder charge.”
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