Big trials in Franklin County in 2024 include three ex-officers charged with murder

Some of the most anticipated trials scheduled in Franklin County Common Pleas Court this new year include three former law enforcement officers charged in separate cases with murder and an accused serial drug overdose killer.

The 2024 line-up of big trials looks a lot like the 2023 lineup since trials for two of those ex-officers have been repeatedly postponed or rescheduled for more than three years since separate shootings in December 2020.

Here are some of the most noteworthy cases slated for trial in 2024 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Court dates could be tentative and often are rescheduled.

Murder trial for former Franklin County deputy Jason Meade

Michael Jason Meade, a former Franklin County SWAT deputy, is scheduled to go on trial on Jan. 29 on charges of murder and reckless homicide in connection with the Dec. 4, 2020 shooting death of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr.

Meade, 44, who is out on a $250,000 bond, shot Goodson six times, five in the back, while he was outside his grandmother's Northland home.

Meade's attorneys have said that he saw Goodson point a firearm at another driver and Meade's unmarked vehicle as Goodson drove by Meade, who had just finished an operation as a member of a U.S. Marshal's task force. Meade got in his vehicle and followed Goodson a short distance to Goodson's granmother's house where he got out.

According to his defense team, Meade shouted repeatedly for Goodson to show his hands and drop the gun, but contend that Goodson instead pointed it at Meade, who opened fire.

Goodson's family has said he was holding food from a Subway sandwich shop, not a gun, though he was licensed to have a gun and conceal carry.

A firearm was recovered at the scene after Goodson was fatally shot, according to police. But information about where that firearm was found has not been released.

Unlike other shootings by officers on trial next year, no footage of this incident is available because the Franklin County Sheriff's office did not have body cameras at the time.

Murder trial for former Columbus police officer Adam Coy

Adam Coy, a former Columbus Division of Police officer who is out on a $1 million bond, was scheduled to go on trial this past year for the Dec. 22, 2020, shooting death of 47-year-old Andre Hill.

Coy, 47, is charged with murder, reckless homicide, felonious assault and dereliction of duty. The shooting of the unarmed Hill came on the heels of the shooting by Meade. Both shootings involved white officers who shot Black men, sparking racial justice protests in Columbus.

Coy's trial was postponed indefinitely while he underwent treatment for cancer. On Dec. 22, Coy's case was continued as a Franklin County Common Pleas Court awaits a status update on his cancer treatment. Another hearing is expected to be scheduled for sometime in January.

Coy and another officer were responding to a nonemergency call at about 2 a.m. Dec. 22, 2020, about a noisy vehicle outside homes on the Northwest Side. Coy had interacted with Hill, who went into the garage of a home where he was invited guest, before the second officer arrived.

Body-camera footage shows the two officers walking up the driveway of the home when Hill emerged from the dark, open garage with an illuminated cellphone in his raised left hand.

One of Coy's lawyers, Mark Collins, has said that Coy fired after mistaking a set of keys in Hills’ right hand for a silver revolver. The failure of Coy, the other officer on scene and other responding officers to immediately render aid to Hill as he lay bleeding at the entrance to the garage while waiting on medics resulted in changes in Columbus police policies. Officers are required now to render emergency medical aid to people they shoot or injure while awaiting for medics.

Murder trial for former Columbus K-9 officer Ricky Anderson

In August 2023, a grand jury indicted former Columbus K-9 officer Ricky Anderson on murder and reckless homicide charges in connection with the fatal Aug. 22, 2022, shooting of Donovan Lewis inside his Hilltop apartment.

Anderson and other officers went to the apartment early in the morning to arrest him on multiple warrants, including one for assaulting his girlfriend. Police pounded on the door for some time before one of two other men Lewis had apparently let sleep in the apartment opened the door. Those two men were placed in custody and taken outside on a walkway to the second-floor apartment while officers continued to search for Lewis.

Anderson's K-9 dog alerted to someone still in the one-bedroom apartment, and the dog was put back while Anderson and another officer approached the bedroom door.

Anderson opened the bedroom door and the other officer put the light of his gun on Lewis, 20, who sprang up in bed., bodycam video shows. The other officer did not fire his gun, but within a second of the door opening Anderson brought his gun around and fired it through the open doorway, striking Lewis once in the abdomen, the video shows.

Officers took Lewis downstairs to a grassy area outside the apartments to render medical aid until medics arrived, but Lewis ultimately was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Anderson is out on a $500,000 bond awaiting his trial, which is currently scheduled for Jan. 17 but likely will be moved.

That is due, at least in part, to the fact that Meade, Coy and Anderson are all represented by the same Columbus lawyer team of Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens, who specialize in defending officers.

Inside courthouse news: Who is the lawyer for Columbus-area cops in trouble? Mark Collins has been go-to for decades

Krieg Butler faces charges related to shooting Sinzae Reed, 13

Krieg Butler, 37, told Columbus police he fired in self-defense when he fatally shot 13-year-old Sinzae Reed on Oct. 1, 2022, outside at the Wedgewood Apartments complex in the Hilltop.

Butler, who initially had been held on a murder charge, was released from jail within a few days. When the Franklin County Prosecutor's office dropped Butler's murder charge so Columbus police could investigate further, Reed's death became national news.

Nearly eight months later, a Franklin County grand jury in May decided not to indict Butler on murder charges. However, the grand jury did indict Butler on charges of improper handling of a firearm and tampering with evidence.

At Butler's arraignment, a county prosecuting attorney said that several witnesses told authorities Reed shot at Butler in his truck before Butler got out of his truck and fired back.

Reed's mother has denied that Reed ever had a gun and contends the witnesses are lying.

Butler's next court date is scheduled for Jan. 25.

Timothy Kendrick: drifter accused of posting videos of brutal killing online

Franklin County Prosecutors and Columbus police allege Timothy Kendrick, 35, was a drifter living in a string of hotels before he tortured and killed 30-year-old Drew Mendelbaum on July 16, 2021, and posted videos of the man's final moments on social media.

Kendrick, who remains in jail without bond, is charged with aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. His trial is pending.

Rebecca Auborn, accused of serial overdose killings

Columbus police and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office have called Rebecca Auborn, 33, a serial killer and charged her of causing four men to die from overdoses.

Yost alleges Auborn, of Columbus' Northeast Side, met men for sex at hotels in Columbus, drugged them and then robbed them. Men died from at least four of those encounters, and a fifth survived to tell authorities, according to Yost's office.

Auborn is charged with four counts each of murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths. She is also charged with five counts each of aggravated robbery, felonious assault and corrupting another with drugs, four counts of trafficking in drugs, and one count of tampering with evidence.

Auborn's next court date is scheduled for Feb. 7.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 3 ex-officers face murder trials in Franklin County court in 2024