"Six shots in the back. That's what this case boils down to," said prosecutor Tim Merkle.
Merkle said in his opening statements that former Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Meade shot 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. six times in the back, while Goodson was holding a bag of sandwiches and walking into his grandmother's home in North Linden.
Merkle argued that Goodson — a Black man — wasn't a threat, and was listening to music on a pair of wireless headphones when he was shot.
The opening of Meade's second murder trial on Thursday comes more than two years after Franklin County Judge David Young declared a mistrial in the first attempt to try the case in February 2024 because jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision.
On Thursday, Merkle walked 16 new jurors through the events of Dec. 4, 2020. He painstakingly detailed the layout of Goodson's neighborhood and home and the movements of Goodson, Meade and others on three posterboard-sized diagrams. All the while, Merkle cast doubt on Meade's account that Goodson raised a firearm at him in the moment before Meade shot Goodson.
"No one saw a gun until Casey was lying on the floor having been shot, other than Mr. Meade. No one," Merkle argued.
Meade was working with a U.S. Marshal's task force on an unrelated, unsuccessful fugitive search when he claimed he saw Goodson in a car pumping a gun and pointing it at other vehicles. Though Goodson was not the subject of Meade's search, Meade made a U-turn and followed Goodson to a family home.
Meade has said that Goodson pointed a gun at him twice — once when he passed him on the road and again when he was entering his grandmother's house. Meade reports that Goodson did not listen to commands to put down his weapon.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that Goodson legally owned a gun, and held a concealed carry permit. But while Merkle asserts that evidence suggests the gun was in its holster, defense attorney Kaitlyn Stephens says otherwise.
Stephens asked jurors to consider the event from Meade's perspective.
"'Hey, I got a guy out here with a gun on Karl and Ferris. He's pointing the gun everyone.' You are a police officer. You have just seen multiple crimes be committed. You have a duty to investigate," Stephens said.
She told jurors that they only have to consider whether Meade believed his life was in danger, and whether his decision to use deadly force was reasonable with the information he had at the time.
"I give you those two questions, because that's what the law requires," Stephens said. "That's what we must prove by a feather more than 50%. We must prove to you more likely than not that Jason believes he was about to be shot when he saw the gun be pointed at him."
Stephens showed jurors video of when Meade first encountered Goodson at Karl and Ferris roads. The video was captured by two cameras at St. Matthias School. Stephens also used graphics to depict the movements of the cars.
Later, Stephens unveiled a large photo of Goodson in his car pointing a gun at the camera. She clarified that it was not necessarily taken on the day of the shooting, but she left the image at her side throughout the rest of her opening statement.
Jurors spent the afternoon visiting the scene of the shooting to familiarize themselves with the area. Prosecutors Merkle and Gary Shroyer are expected to call their first witness on Friday morning.
The trial will likely last about three weeks. Jurors are slated to hear from an assistant coroner, law enforcement officers who arrived on scene shortly after Meade and a van driver who witnessed the initial encounter at Karl and Ferris roads, among others.
The defense and prosecution each said that they have an expert witness who will confirm that the placement of the bullets that flew through a storm door and hit Goodson matches their respective accounts of events.
Meade took the stand in his own defense in his first trial, but Stephens and Merkle did not mention whether he would do so again.
The jury, including alternates, is comprised of five men and 11 women. While most jurors are white, the group includes two Black women, a Black man and a few other people of color.
