A former Ohio deputy has been found guilty of reckless homicide in the shooting of Casey Goodson Jr.
May 7, 2026, 1:10 PM | Updated: May 8, 2026, 5:12 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former sheriff’s deputy was found guilty of reckless homicide on Thursday for shooting a Black man who was bringing sandwiches to his grandmother’s house. The killing of Casey Goodson Jr. by Jason Meade in December 2020 had provoked outrage in Ohio.
The jurors said they couldn’t agree on the more serious charge of murder, so the judge declared a mistrial on that count.
Meade, who is white, said his shooting of Goodson — five times in the back and once in the side — was justified because he saw the 23-year-old holding a gun and turning toward him in the doorway of the house in Columbus. But no one else testified that they saw Goodson holding the gun he was licensed to carry, and no cameras recorded the shooting.
This was Meade’s second murder trial, after the first ended in a mistrial two years ago. He is now the second white law enforcement officer to be convicted in the killing of a Black man in the state since the 2020 killing of George Floyd sparked national protests.
During the earlier proceeding, Meade testified that he pursued Goodson after the man waved a gun at him as they passed each other in their vehicles. According to his family and prosecutors, Goodson was holding a bag of Subway sandwiches in one hand and his keys in the other, and was listening to music through earbuds when he was killed.
Prosecutors also said that evidence suggests the gun wasn’t in his hands, but in a flimsy holder under his belt, and that it was found under his body, its safety mechanism still engaged, as Goodson laid mortally wounded on the kitchen floor.
