First witnesses to testify in the Jason Meade murder trial for death of Casey Goodson Jr.

NBC4 is covering the murder trial of Jason Meade from gavel to gavel. Viewer discretion is advised. 4:38 P.M. UPDATE: The court is breaking for the day. Testimony will resume at 9 a.m. Friday.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The family of a Black man killed by a former sheriff’s deputy were the state’s first witnesses to testify at the deputy’s murder trial.

The first day of testimony comes about a day later than originally anticipated in the murder trial against Jason Meade, a former Franklin County sheriff’s deputy who killed 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. in December 2020. Meade faces two charges of murder and one charge of reckless homicide for killing Goodson in a residential neighborhood in northwest Columbus.

Goodson’s grandmother, sister and uncle testified Thursday, as well as a Columbus police officer who responded to the scene and a Columbus police sergeant in charge of the crime scene unit.

Under questioning by special prosecutor Tim Merkle, Sharon Payne, Goodson’s grandmother, described the moments before and after Goodson was shot at the door of her northwest Columbus home on Dec. 4, 2020.

The day started as a normal morning for Sharon Payne. She did laundry and made breakfast for some of her grandchildren. Her daughter, Goodson’s mother, had stopped by that day and said she saw police in the area – she was going to warn Goodson about them.

Meanwhile, Janae Jones, Goodson’s sister, was listening to music in her room in Sharon’s house. Jones, who was 18 at the time, said she got a notification that her AirPods were nearby – Goodson regularly borrowed them. Then she heard what sounded like gunshots and ran toward the kitchen.

Sharon Payne was also in her bedroom, drinking coffee, when she heard the gunshots. It sounded like a chandelier falling from the ceiling, she testified.

Ernest Payne, Goodson’s uncle, testified that he was in his bedroom in Sharon’s house when he heard the gunshots. He carried his 3-year-old daughter in one arm out into the living room, where an officer yelled at him to get down or he would be shot.

Before being ordered to leave the house, Sharon and Jones saw Goodson laying in the kitchen face-down with his arms stretched in front of him. Upon seeing Goodson on the floor, Sharon Payne called 911. Several members of Goodson’s family – and a juror – cried as the call was played in court.

Hours later, once the scene was cleared, it was Ernest Payne who first entered the house to clean up the mess left behind.

On the floor were the bag of Subway sandwiches that Goodson brought home, along with the face mask Goodson was wearing when he was shot. While cleaning, he picked up the microwave that had fallen to the floor in the commotion and found AirPods.

Columbus Police Officer Sam Rippey’s body-worn camera captured one of the AirPods in Goodson’s ear. Rippey was a responding officer to the scene and performed CPR on Goodson until medics arrived.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Mark Collins, Rippey testified that he wouldn’t expect a person to drive with earbuds in – it’s a criminal offense in Columbus. He also said that as an officer, he is trained to shoot until the threat is over. A person with a gun, even if their back was turned, would be a threat, he said.

While cross-examining Sharon Payne, defense attorney Steven Nolder focused on Goodson’s gun, for which he had a concealed carry permit. Payne testified that she had been in the car with Goodson on several occasions, and he often had the gun with him – he took it everywhere, she said.

He typically stored the gun in a holster near the front of his belt, she said, but under questioning said that she had seen Goodson place the gun on the car’s center console on at least one occasion.

Nolder then displayed a screenshot of a social media post depicting Goodson, in a car, pointing his gun at the camera. Payne had never seen the photo before, she testified. She estimated that Goodson was 21 or 22 at the time.

“There’s no doubt that’s him?” Nolder asked.

“There’s no doubt that’s my grandson. I know my grandson,” Payne said.

Nolder pointed out slight inconsistencies in Payne’s testimony with the interview she gave to the FBI in April 2021. She testified that her great-granddaughter, a toddler at the time, was sitting at the kitchen table when Goodson was shot and fell through the doorway. But she didn’t mention it in the FBI interview, Nolder said.

“I don’t know, I was very emotional at the time,” Payne said.

After the shooting, Payne fainted from stress and was hospitalized for several days. She temporarily lost her memory from the incident, and told the FBI as such. In fact, she didn’t know that she walked by a U.S. Marshal in the house – she learned that after she returned from the hospital.

When court resumes Friday, a sergeant who leads Columbus police’s crime scene unit will finish his testimony.

Prosecution, defense make their cases in opening statements

Jurors had a relatively short day Wednesday, with opening statements heard in the morning and a brief trip to Goodson’s grandmother’s street in the afternoon. But Thursday will be a full day in court, listening to witness testimony as the state pleads its case.

Prosecutors have identified 54 witnesses they may call to testify, ranging from members of law enforcement to the dental hygienist Goodson saw the morning of his death. The defense will be able to cross-examine each witness.

Without body camera footage of the shooting — sheriff’s deputies didn’t wear them at the time — the jurors have been asked to decide which version of events they believe.

In opening statements Wednesday, Kaitlyn Stephens, one of Meade’s attorneys, argued that Meade reasonably feared for his life when he shot Goodson in the door of his grandmother’s house on Estates Place.

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The defense asserts that Goodson pointed his gun, which was recovered from the scene near where Goodson was shot, at Meade twice: Once while both were in their respective vehicles and a second time as Goodson was unlocking the side door of the house.

Stephens said Goodson ran from his car, gun in hand, when Meade turned on the police lights in his unmarked Marshals truck. Goodson ignored commands to drop his gun, Stephens said, and turned to point it at Meade when Meade made the split-second decision to shoot.

“When a gun is pointing at a police officer, there is no higher threat to the officer,” Stephens said Tuesday. “It is every officer’s worst nightmare to stare down the barrel of a gun.”

Special prosecutor Gary Shroyer, meanwhile, argued that Meade acted knowingly, intentionally and recklessly when he shot Goodson six times.

He denied that Goodson, who had a concealed carry permit, would have waved the gun at Meade or anyone else. Goodson had a bag of Subway sandwiches in his hand, and Shroyer said his gun was in his cloth holster with the safety on.

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Goodson could not have been a threat, Shroyer argued, because his back was turned to Meade when Meade shot him. According to the coroner’s report, five of the six bullets hit Goodson in the back.

“There was no reasonable basis for the defendant to perceive a threat by Casey,” Shroyer said. “It’s an unjustified shooting.”

The jury will likely hear from the coroner who performed Goodson’s autopsy. They’ll also hear from an FBI forensic examiner who will testify about her firearms analysis of the scene.

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