Deputy convicted in Casey Goodson Jr. killing, rare on-duty police verdict

The conviction of Jason Meade for reckless homicide in the shooting of Casey Goodson Jr. was unusual in a system where on-duty police killings rarely end in criminal liability. A Franklin County jury found Meade guilty on one count but could not reach a verdict on the murder charge, and the judge declared a mistrial on that count, leaving the most serious accusation unresolved in a case that had drawn intense scrutiny since Goodson was killed in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 4, 2020.

Meade was serving as a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy and as a U.S. Marshals Service task force officer when he shot Goodson, who was 23. Investigators said Meade claimed he saw Goodson wave a firearm, an account disputed by Goodson’s family and supporters. The shooting drew added scrutiny because there was no body-camera or dashcam footage, and Goodson was reported to have been shot five times in the back.

The legal response began quickly. In December 2021, a Franklin County grand jury indicted Meade on two murder counts and one count of reckless homicide. Federal authorities also opened a joint civil rights review involving the FBI, the Columbus Division of Police, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Ohio, underscoring the depth of the review around the shooting and the evidence collected afterward.

The verdict fit a pattern legal experts have long described as difficult to break. Philip Stinson has said juries are often reluctant to convict on-duty officers of murder, making the reckless homicide finding notable even as the murder charge stalled. For Goodson’s family and supporters, who spent years pressing for accountability, the case also carried civil consequences: related litigation later produced a reported $7 million settlement. The criminal case did not settle the broader debate over police shootings, but it marked one of the rare moments when a jury held a law enforcement officer criminally responsible for a killing on the job.