Jason Meade trial: Prosecutors seeking to add last-minute witness
Special prosecutors in the murder trial of former Franklin County Sheriff's deputy Jason Meade are seeking to call a last-minute witness in the case, according to court documents filed Thursday.
The move comes on the same day the judge in the case sent the jury home for an extended weekend.
The trial is currently scheduled to resume Tuesday morning. Meade is charged with two counts of murder and one count of reckless homicide in the Dec. 4, 2020, shooting of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. as he was entering his grandmother's Estates Place home.
The trial was expected to resume Thursday with additional testimony from defense witnesses, however, arguments behind closed doors between Meade's attorneys and special prosecutors assigned to the case took up most of the morning. Judge David Young called the jury into the room Thursday afternoon and dismissed them until Tuesday morning.
On Thursday, special prosecutors Tim Merkle, Gary Shroyer and assistant Montgomery County prosecutor Josh Shaw, filed a subpoena for a man named Christopher Corne.
The address listed for Corne on the documents belongs to a local heating and cooling company in Groveport. Prosecutors also subpoenaed the business' custodian of records.
Previous live coverage: Former deputy Jason Meade testifies in murder trial: 'I thought he was going to shoot me'
An employee at the heating company said Thursday afternoon when reached by The Dispatch that Corne was "still at the courthouse" and the reason he was involved in the case was "his truck was the one seen on the news."
Corne is not listed on the prosecution's witness list that was filed before the trial began last week. That list included more than 50 names.
In addition, on Thursday, Meade's attorneys filed a subpoena for Goodson's mother Tamala Payne, and Payne's civil attorney, Sean Walton, for all emails exchanged between the two over the last six months involving Corne and any depositions Corne may have given.
While cross examining the former neighbor of Goodson's grandmother, who lived on Estates Place at the time of the Dec. 4, 2020, shooting, Shroyer asked the neighbor, Sheila Staniford, about a heating and cooling van in the area.
Staniford testified the van was sitting outside her home before the shooting and said she thought someone was going to break into her house.
Neither the special prosecutors or Meade's attorneys commented Thursday when leaving court about the delay in the case.
In most criminal trials, witnesses identified late in the case are not allowed to testify because the opposing attorneys will not have had a chance to prepare to examine them, according to Ohio's rules of criminal procedure.
On Sunday, special prosecutors filed paperwork notifying Young they were providing "supplemental discovery," or additional information not previously disclosed to the other side of the case, to Meade's attorneys. It is unknown if that disclosure is related to Thursday's delay.
Prosecutors rested their case against Meade on Tuesday morning. Meade took the stand in his own defense that afternoon. The defense has not yet rested their case and can still call more witnesses. After the defense rests, the prosecution will have an opportunity to provide rebuttal evidence through witness testimony.
Dispatch reporter Jordan Laird contributed to this story.
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jason Meade trial: Prosecutors seeking to add last-minute witness
