Jason Meade, Cop Charged in Casey Goodson's Death, Should Be Tried By State: Prosecutors
Prosecutors in the case against Jason Meade, the former Ohio police officer charged in the death of Casey Goodson, said Wednesday his case should remain in state court, not be moved to federal court.
Meade, a white man and former deputy with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, fatally shot Goodson, a 23-year-old Black man, as Goodson walked through the doorway of his grandmother's house on December 4, 2020.
Before the shooting, Meade had been on assignment with a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force. Meade's attorneys are arguing that the case belongs in a federal court because he was acting as a federal agent. They filed a request to move the case on December 2, the same day charges were filed.
However, special Franklin County prosecutors Gary Shroyer and Tim Merkle said in a court filing that this is incorrect, instead arguing that his time as a member of the task force "had concluded for the day and members of the task force were leaving the field."
The prosecutors argue that the case should stay in state court because he was not acting as a task force member.
Goodson was not the subject of the task force's search. According to NBC News, Meade reported seeing Goodson holding a gun and shot him following a "verbal exchange." Goodson family attorney Sean Walton confirmed Goodson had a concealed carry license. There is no video evidence of the shooting or the conversation before it.
Meade's attorneys hope to have him covered by immunity provided federal officers, meaning his case couldn't be tried in a state court and the charges would have to be dismissed, one of Meade's attorneys, Steve Nolder, has said.
Shroyer and Merkle note that the shooting happened after Meade's unsuccessful search for a fugitive had ended and while Meade was returning to his office.
The request by Meade's attorneys to move the case also runs counter to what U.S. Marshal Pete Tobin said a week after the shooting.
Meade "was acting on his own and in his independent authority as a Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy within his home jurisdiction when he encountered Mr. Goodson, and throughout the subsequent incident leading to Mr. Goodson's death," Tobin said in a December 11, 2020, statement
Meade has pleaded not guilty and is free on $250,000 bond. Goodson's family has criticized Meade's bond as too low, noting that Adam Coy, the Columbus officer who fatally shot and killed Andre Hill in late December of 2020, had his bond set at $1 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
