‘Blood lust,’ vengeance not goal of Jason Meade retrial
The plan to retry Jason Meade for the shooting death of Casey Goodson is not about “blood lust,” appeasing political players or seeking “a pound of flesh” as Meade’s defense team claims. ● It’s about the pursuit of justice. ● It has been a little more than three years since Goodson was shot and killed by Meade, then a Franklin County
Sheriff ’s deputy who had been searching for wanted suspects as part of his role with the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive
Task Force. ● Little more than a week has passed since 12 jurors — after three weeks of often heartbreaking testimony — deadlocked on whether or not Meade was guilty of two counts of murder and/or one count of reckless homicide.
The anticlimactic mistrial fell far short of the resolution needed by both those who think Meade should be held criminally accountable for Goodson’s death and those who believe the shooting was justified.
It is a complex case — many are — but after three long years of community angst, the question of legal guilt or innocence should not be left to linger over Franklin County residents.
Retrying the case is the right step. The second trial for Meade may very well result in another mistrial but the justice sought by community members on both sides of this difficult issue is well worth the time and money it will take to have another jury weigh in — this time hopefully able to determine guilt or innocence.
Not pursuing the truth would be a far more expensive miscarriage of justice that would betray the public’s trust.
Retrials are not uncommon
Former Columbus police vice officer Andrew Mitchell was the last law enforcement officer to go to trial in Franklin County for murder. Mitchell’s first trial for the 2018 shooting death of Donna Castleberry ended in a hung jury. A second jury found him not guilty in 2023.
Anthony Pierson, deputy chief counsel for Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, told The Dispatch it is rare that prosecutors do not retry hung trials “at least one more time, possibly more than that, depending on the count of the (jury) deadlock.”
Delaware City Attorney Natalia Harris, one of three challenging Pierson to be Franklin County prosecutor, told the newspaper a member of her family was murdered and she hoped the Meade case is retried immediately.
John Rutan, a defense attorney from Grove City, and Shayla Favor, a Columbus City Council member, are the other two running for county prosecutor. Their responses to The Dispatch’s question of retrials were not as direct.
A difficult decision
Meade's first trial had unusual drama — a last-minute witness, delays in deliberations after multiple jurors were excused and alternatives added and a reversed mistrial before the ultimate declaration of mistrial.
Beyond that, jurors did not have an easy task.
Casey Goodson's Dec. 4, 2020, death came on the heels of a year of protests and calls for reform sparked by several high-profile killings of Black people at the hands of law enforcement, the death of George Floyd included.
While the horrific details of Floyd's death were caught on multiple videos, Goodson's death was far less cut and dry for the all-white jury.
There is no video or audio of the 23year-old Black man being shot by the white deputy. The jury had complex law, testimony and physical evidence to weigh.
Meade, a 17-year sheriff 's office veteran, testified that as Goodson, a concealed handgun license holder, drove by, he waved a gun and pointed it toward the windshield, prompting the deputy to follow Goodson to Estates Place. Meade said he shot Goodson after Goodson pointed a gun at him at a side door.
HVAC technician Christopher Corne, the surprise, last-minute witness, testified that he saw Goodson drive by shortly before the shooting and he seemed to be dancing to music in his car with nothing in his hands.
Special prosecutors say Goodson's gun was holstered. His mother, Tamala Payne, and other relatives contend he was gunned down while trying to carry a bag of Subway sandwiches into his grandmother's Estates Place home after a dentist's appointment.
Meade shot Goodson five times in the back and once in the side, according to an autopsy from the Franklin County Coroner's office.
Jurors wrestled with Meade's guilt or innocence.
Sean Walton, who is representing Payne in a civil lawsuit against Meade and the county, said the jury was split 9-3 to convict Meade.
The next jury
Meade's defense attorneys, Mark Collins, Kaitlyn Stephens and Steven Nolder likened the retrial to a witch hunt, writing in part that the prosecutors failed to paint Meade as “a Marvel character equipped with X-ray vision to see through Goodson's clothing to reveal a holstered firearm.”
“The political pressure to move forward with this case is palpable and will impede the ability of Jason Meade to get a fair trial,” they wrote in a statement. “The blood lust motivating a retrial is real and the state will once again seek their pound of flesh. However, the facts won't change.”
There were many calls for a retrial from members of the public, politicians and a list of entities that includes this editorial board.
In a statement, special prosecutors Tim Merkle and Gary Shroyer and Montgomery
County Assistant Prosecutor Josh Shaw said, “it is in the best interest of all involved and the community to move forward with a second trial.” We agree.
The pursuit of justice is paramount. The community deserves and needs the truth. Goodson's family deserves closure. Meade deserves either public acquittal or conviction.
Jurors also deserve a trial that proceeds in a timely manner while protecting the defendant's rights. The witness delay and loss of four jurors made a difficult process far more difficult. Imagine being the fourth alternate joining restarted deliberations on the final day.
The question of guilt or innocence is difficult enough on its own.
The pursuit of justice often comes with complications that must be resolved in the name of morality.
For the good of Franklin County, we hope that happens with the second trial and there is resolution.
This piece was written by Dispatch Opinion Editor Amelia Robinson on behalf of the editorial board of the Columbus Dispatch. Editorials are fact-based assessments of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.