Ex-Ohio deputy found guilty of reckless homicide in shooting of Black man going into grandmother’s home
Prosecutors say Meade shot Goodson five times in the back, while the defense argues he acted in self-defense and feared a gun.
- A Franklin County jury on May 7, 2026, convicted former sheriff's deputy Jason Meade of reckless homicide for the 2020 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr., who was killed while entering his grandmother’s residence.
- The panel was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the more severe charge of murder, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on that count after jurors informed the court they were hopelessly deadlocked.
- Throughout the proceedings, prosecutors emphasized that Goodson was carrying a bag of food and his house keys at the time of the encounter, arguing he posed no imminent threat, while the defense maintained the deputy fired in self-defense after allegedly seeing the young man point a firearm.
- Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Goodson was struck six times—five times in the back—and that the handgun he was licensed to carry was found on the kitchen floor with the safety mechanism still engaged.
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98 Articles
‘A Violent Deputy’ Who Loved to ‘Hunt People’ Convicted for Killing Black Man Holding Sandwiches, Falsely Claiming Victim Had Been Pointing Gun
Casey Goodson, a 23-year-old Black man with no criminal history, was bringing sandwiches home to his 72-year-old grandmother and 5-year-old brother when an Ohio sheriff’s deputy shot him in the back with an automatic rifle as he tried entering the home, killing him instantly. Franklin County sheriff’s deputy Jason Meade, who was part of a federal task force searching for an unrelated fugitive, claimed Goodson had pointed a gun at him while drivi…
Ex-Cop Who Killed Casey Goodson Jr. Found Guilty Of Reckless Homicide
Source: STEPHEN ZENNER / Getty In December 2020, a white police officer in Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a Black man while he was bringing sandwiches to his grandmother’s house. On Thursday, that now-former officer, who retired the year after the killing occurred, was found guilty of reckless homicide, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of five years, meaning a cop took a man’s life for no discernible reason, and, at best, he’ll lose his …
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