Ex-deputy Jason Meade's second murder trial rescheduled
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The second trial in the murder case against a former Franklin County Sheriff's deputy who fatally shot a Black man has been delayed, after the first was declared a mistrial.
The trial of Jason Meade, who is facing one count of murder and a count of reckless homicide, has been rescheduled from Oct. 31 to Feb. 27 of next year. Meade's attorneys, Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens, had asked for his trial to be moved given the pair will also be representing former Columbus officer Adam Coy, whose trial will begin Oct. 21 on charges he also fatally shot a Black man.
A previous trial in February against Meade, where he faced two counts of murder and one count of reckless homicide, tasked a jury with determining whether or not he was justified in shooting 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. because he feared for his life.
A court filing in June showed that special prosecutors H. Tim Merkle, Gary Shroyer and Joshua Shaw are not going to pursue the same charges they did in a first trial against the ex-deputy, which ended with a deadlocked jury. The trio entered nolle prosequi for the first charge of murder, meaning they will no longer pursue it in court.
Judge David Young declared a mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous agreement on "any of the three charges," according to a written note they passed to him. They spent three days deliberating, and were interrupted multiple times when three jurors were replaced by alternates.
Throughout the trial, Meade asserted he feared for his life on Dec. 4, 2020, when he shot Goodson, a Black man. Meade was coming off an assignment with the U.S. Marshals Service and claimed to see Goodson waving a gun while driving. After pursuing Goodson to his grandmother’s house on Estates Place in north Columbus, Meade said Goodson was standing in the doorway of the house when he pointed his gun back at Meade.
The state, meanwhile, had argued that the shooting was unjustified, citing a lack of corroboration that Goodson pointed his gun, either in his car or at his door, as well as the fact that Goodson was wearing AirPods at the time of the shooting. Goodson was shot six times, five of which hit his back.
The Franklin County Commons Pleas Court had scheduled a new criminal trial for Nov. 4, with jury selection that was supposed to begin on Oct. 31.