Special prosecutors have filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss one of the two murder charges filed against a former Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot a Black man entering his grandmother’s home.
The motion, filed Friday by special prosecutors Howard Merkle, Gary Shroyer and Assistant Montgomery County Prosecutor Josh Shaw, indicates that the prosecutors will be seeking to retry Meade on one murder charge and a reckless homicide charge.
A jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in February for the former deputy, who had been charged in the Dec. 4, 2020, death of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr.
Meade was initially charged with one count of reckless homicide and two counts of murder, one for purposefully causing Goodson’s death and one for causing Goodson’s death during a felonious assault. Prosecutors are seeking to dismiss the purposeful murder charge.
On Dec. 4, 2020, Meade had been working as part of a task force when he said he saw Goodson pointing a firearm out the windshield of his car, according to Meade’s testimony at trial. Meade followed Goodson and gave him verbal commands to drop the gun while Goodson went to the side door of a home.
The home belonged to Goodson’s grandmother, and Goodson had earbuds in at the time, playing music at an unknown volume, according to evidence presented at trial.
Meade testified Goodson had pointed a handgun at him, prompting Meade to pull the trigger of his department-issued rifle one time. The rifle had been set to automatic so six rounds were fired with the single trigger pull. Five of the shots struck Goodson in the back, according to trial testimony.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s office did not have body cameras at the time, and there was no camera footage of the actual shooting.
Goodson’s family has filed a lawsuit against Meade and the sheriff’s office, which is still pending.
The special prosecutors in the case have made more than $355,000 to prosecute Meade, according to a Dispatch investigation.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Prosecutors ask for dismissal of murder charge against Jason Meade
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