Trial Begins For Ex-Cop Who Shot Black Man 6 Times In The Back

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Supply: Walton + Brown, LLP / Walton + Brown, LLP

The trial of the previous officer charged within the 2020 taking pictures loss of life of an Ohio Black man started Wednesday, greater than three years after Casey Goodson Jr. was killed.

Former deputy Jason Meade was charged with homicide and reckless murder in December 2021 after he shot and killed Goodson whereas he was coming into his grandmother’s house in Columbus, Ohio.

Meade pleaded not responsible to all the fees.

In response to ABC Information, throughout opening statements, particular prosecutor Gary Shroyer advised the courtroom that the taking pictures was unjustified and Goodson by no means posed a menace to Casey.

“Six pictures within the again,” Shroyer advised the courtroom. “All fired by the defendant into the again of Casey Goodson with no cheap foundation for the defendant to understand a menace by Casey. It’s an unjustified taking pictures. Casey was solely 23 years previous on the time the defendant killed him. [Meade] was a Franklin County County Deputy on the time. Casey’s loss of life is an incredible loss to his household.”

Protection legal professional Kaitlyn Stephens then pressed the jurors concerning the guidelines of the courtroom saying, “Remind your self of that instruction that the choose gave you … that as you took that oath as a juror, you aren’t to think about sympathy or empathy whenever you analyze that case. And so each time they play it, remind your self of what the regulation requires.”

Supply: STEPHEN ZENNER / Getty

The mom of Goodson, the Black man shot and killed by a police officer in Ohio, says his post-mortem outcomes present he was struck six instances from behind with a “high-powered rifle.”

In February 2021, Casey Goodson Jr.‘s mom revealed the post-mortem outcomes after retaining them hid for the reason that process on Jan. 11, 2021, greater than a month after the taking pictures in Columbus. Tamala Payne‘s 23-year-old son was shot 5 instances in his again and as soon as in his rear finish as he entered his house on Dec. 4, she mentioned.

The Columbus Police Officer who shot him — Jason Meade — apparently and inexplicably mistook the sandwiches Goodson was holding in his hand for a gun. Meade stays gainfully employed by the embattled Columbus Police Division additionally concerned in a separate current taking pictures of one other unarmed Black man.

Payne’s lawyer prompt she determined to go public with the post-mortem outcomes now as a result of her son’s case hasn’t progressed as she anticipated it to.

“The household didn’t wish to intervene with the investigation in any respect, however given the period of time that’s handed, we felt it was necessary to inform extra of the story of Casey,” Payne’s legal professional Sean Walton advised the Columbus Dispatch.

The realm’s federal regulation enforcement company has maintained that Meade gave Goodson a command to drop the gun he was accused of waving at an officer as he drove house coming back from a visit to the dentist.

Police say they recovered a gun, however Goodson’s household says he’s licensed to hold one and doubted he would simply brandish one at regulation enforcement. As an alternative, they are saying, he was carrying a bag of sandwiches from Subway when he was shot within the again and fell into his house along with his keys nonetheless dangling within the door’s lock.

The Columbus chapter of the NAACP mentioned it had 4 questions which have gone unanswered concerning the taking pictures, together with why the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio was so fast to justify it. The group referred to as for Meade’s instant firing, indictment and arrest.

Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin downplayed Goodson being shot within the again, insisting that “felony investigations through the years have proven that the bodily location of gunshot wounds alone don’t at all times inform your complete story of what occurred.”

Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack mentioned he’s “awaiting a ultimate post-mortem report earlier than making any selections on the case,” the Dispatch reported. It was unclear why Tyack shouldn’t be recognizing the outcomes from the post-mortem that Goodman’s mom, lawyer and the NAACP have been citing for the reason that taking pictures happened on Dec. 4. A preliminary post-mortem listed the reason for loss of life as murder and mentioned the killing was the results of “a number of gunshot wounds to the torso.”

Ohio Lawyer Basic Dave Yost declined to take up the case as a result of he mentioned Columbus police took three days to convey the case to their consideration. Columbus police additionally waited two days earlier than they formally recognized Goodson because the sufferer.

Payne beforehand claimed the police have modified tales a number of instances, prompting suspicion of some sort of a coverup.

“My son was murdered in chilly blood, and we don’t haven’t any solutions as to why he was murdered,” she mentioned lower than every week after his taking pictures. “It’s not a query to me in any respect right now if my son was murdered or not.”

Hearing of former Ohio cop indicted for murdering Black man

Tamala Payne, the mom of Casey Goodson Jr., speaks to the media outdoors the Franklin County Courthouse after fired Columbus cop Adam Coy was indicted on the homicide of Andre Hill on Feb. 5, 2021. Supply: Anadolu Company / Getty

Payne mentioned she has been left with extra questions than solutions since regulation enforcement hasn’t been absolutely forthcoming or clear.

“Whereas police declare that Casey drove by, waving a gun, and was confronted by the deputy after exiting his automobile, that narrative leaves out key particulars that elevate trigger for excessive concern,” a press launch by Walton + Brown, LLP, the regulation agency representing his household together with Friedman & Gilbert, mentioned partly.

Payne took situation with that narrative. She referred to as Meade a “coward” who “doesn’t have sufficient guts to reply the questions as to why my son’s life was taken.”

She added: “Casey would by no means trip by waving his gun at anyone, not to mention a police officer.”

Native police supplied a barely totally different account, saying Meade, who was working with the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Process Drive in an unrelated case, noticed “a person with a gun” whereas he was searching for different suspects.

“They recanted that story as a result of that was so far-fetched,” Payne mentioned of the preliminary allegations. “As a result of if he rolled by waving a gun, how was my son ever, ever, ever allowed to even exit the automobile and stroll throughout two yards right into a again gate and get killed as he was going into his house?”

Goodson’s taking pictures shares similarities with that of Andre Hill, a 47-year-old unarmed Black man who was shot inside seconds of a Columbus police officer seeing him early on the morning of Dec. 22.

Nonetheless, there are two key variations: 1) in contrast to Meade, the officer who shot Hill — Adam Coy — was swiftly fired and indicted final week for homicide, felonious assault and dereliction of obligation for failure to tell his fellow officer that he felt threatened throughout the fateful encounter; and a pair of) there’s bodycam footage of Hill’s taking pictures, in contrast to with Goodson’s killing.

There was a rising pattern lately with white cops who shoot Black suspects within the again, whether or not fatally or not, not being held accountable for his or her preventable actions in opposition to individuals who didn’t pose instant threats.

That is America.