COLUMBUS, Ohio — Both Casey Goodson Jr.'s family and the family of former Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Meade are waiting to hear if the case will be retried after a mistrial was declared last week.
The trial ended after jurors told the judge they could not come to a unanimous decision.
Meade is facing murder and reckless homicide charges for Goodson's death on Dec. 4, 2020.
It is now up to the special prosecutors who were assigned the case to decide if they are going to retry the case.
In an interview with 10TV after he was sworn into office on Jan. 4, 2021, Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack said it was important to his office to try officers in shooting cases.
"We need to get the message out that if you do succumb to the temptation to shoot, then we will end up penalizing you, maybe even sending you to prison,” Tyack said.
10TV reached out to Tyack on Tuesday for another interview, but he has not yet responded.
He argued in 2021 that his office couldn't try Meade’s case and there was a need to appoint special prosecutors.
"I can't both protect the sheriff's office and pursue the sheriff's office at the same time,” Tyack explained.
In 2021, Tyack appointed Tim Merkle and Gary Shroyer to the Meade case.
Both had worked in the prosecutor's office years prior, but have both since gone into private practice.
From 2021-2023, Merkle was paid $212,070 from the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office for legal services for the Meade case.
Merkle has also been appointed as special prosecutor in the case against former Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson and in the case related to death of Ta'Kiya Young.
From 2021-2023, Shroyer was paid $123,875 for the Meade case.
Shroyer has also been appointed as special prosecutor in Anderson’s case.
In addition to the special prosecutors, the county paid legal expert, Professor Seth Stoughton to review and testify in the case. Stoughton also testified in the Derek Chauvin case in Minneapolis in the death of George Floyd.
On the stand, Stoughton explained he is paid $385 an hour for his services. As of Feb. 14, the prosecutor's office had paid Stoughton $10,587.50.
He has also been retained by the prosecutor’s office to testify in the murder trial against former Columbus officer Adam Coy. He has been paid $11,760 for that case so far.
We reached out to Merkle and Shroyer for an interview, they declined or did not return our calls.