COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Franklin County Common Pleas judge declared a mistrial Friday after a jury failed to reach a verdict in the murder trial of former Franklin County deputy Jason Meade, who shot and killed Casey Goodson Jr. more than three years ago.
Judge David Young had already declared a mistrial Friday morning, but retracted it minutes later and commended the jurors for their hard work. Jurors came to Young again to say they couldn't agree and he instructed them to keep trying. He declared a final mistrial about two hours after that, when jurors — some of whom were crying — said they were deadlocked.
Young will meet with prosecutors and defense lawyers in the near future to decide how to proceed with the case, but it wasn't clear Friday when that would happen.
Meade is charged with murder and reckless homicide in the December 2020 killing in Columbus of Goodson. Meade maintains that he shot Goodson because he brandished a gun.
Meade fatally shot Goodson on Dec. 4, 2020, as he was entering his grandmother's home in Columbus.
The former deputy was working on the Franklin County Sheriff's Office SWAT team when they were serving an arrest warrant not related to Goodson.
During the trial, Meade testified that Goodson waved a gun and aimed it at him as they drove by one another. Meade testified that he then pursued Goodson in his unmarked vehicle to Goodson's grandmother's home where the man turned to face him with a gun in his hand.
Meade shot Goodson six times with an assault-style rifle, including five times in the back. When asked why he fired his weapon, Meade said, "Because he pointed a gun at me, and I thought I was going to die."
According to his family and prosecutors, Goodson was holding a sandwich bag in one hand and his keys in the other when he was fatally shot as he tried to enter the side door of his grandmother’s house. They say he was also wearing AirPods at the time of his death, suggesting he couldn't hear Meade's commands.
There is no bodycam video of the shooting, and prosecutors repeatedly asserted that Meade is the only person who testified Goodson was holding a gun.
Prosecutors revealed that Goodson fell into his grandmother's home after he was shot and that his gun was found on the kitchen floor. Neither the prosecution nor Goodson's family have disputed that Goodson could have been carrying a gun, but note he had a license to carry a firearm. Goodson also had a holster around his waist that did not have a strap.
Prosecutors argued Goodson "did not pose a reasonable threat to him or anybody else at the moment when he [Meade] pulled the trigger."
Christopher Corne, who works for a heating and cooling company, testified for the prosecution Tuesday that on the day of the shooting, he saw Goodson in his truck at an intersection. Corne said Goodson was “driving erratically” with at least one hand off the wheel. He said Goodson appeared to be singing or dancing to some music in the car. But, he testified, he didn't see anything in Goodson's hands.
Corne testified that he did not see the shooting but that he later saw flashing lights and a large police presence. He said he did not stay in the area or reach out to authorities in the days following the shooting.
During cross-examination, Corne admitted he had changed some details of his story. He initially told prosecutors that Goodson had one hand on the wheel but he testified in court that Goodson had both hands off it.
When asked if he had an agenda and why he came forward, Corne said it was a last-minute decision and that he had some concerns about participating in such a high-profile case.
Defense attorney Mark Collins attacked Corne's credibility, reminding the jury that Corne finally came forward only after he had watched news coverage of the trial's opening days. Collins also noted that Corne deleted all his Facebook comments, including favorable remarks made on posts on the page of Tamala Payne, Goodson’s mother.
Jury deliberations were forced to start over three times after jurors were dismissed and replaced by alternates, one on Wednesday, one on Thursday and another on Friday. Court officials have not said why either juror was removed, but they can be dismissed for a number of reasons, including if they fall sick, research the case outside the deliberation room, or talk about it to someone outside the court.