COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Whether an officer was operating under federal authority as a deputized U.S. marshal or in his role as a full-time Ohio sheriff's deputy is at the heart of a rare legal proceeding over where the officer should be tried for a fatal 2020 shooting.
Defendant Jason Meade, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and reckless homicide in the death of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr., who was Black. Goodson was shot as he entered his grandmother’s house following a dental appointment, according to his family and prosecutors.
Franklin County authorities who want Meade's case to stay in state court, and Meade's attorneys, who want the case tried in federal court, both made arguments to federal Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. on Friday. Sargus, who promised a ruling in about a week, said it was the first time in 25 years on the bench he had seen such a case.
Meade was a full-time Franklin County Sheriff's Department deputy on regular assignment with a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force immediately before the shooting. Meade was finished with his task force assignments for the day when he and his attorneys say he saw Goodson nearby in a car waving a gun in a threatening manner.
After following Goodson, a confrontation between the two led to Meade shooting Goodson six times, including five times in the back, according to Meade's statements and the coroner's autopsy report.
Meade’s lawyers says the deputy fired when Goodson pointed a gun at him. Goodson’s family has never denied that Goodson might have had a gun on him, but has noted he also had a license to carry a firearm.
Goodson’s family says Goodson was opening the door to his grandmother’s house holding a bag of sandwiches at the time he was shot. Investigators said a gun was recovered from the scene but have not provided further details.
Meade said in a statement taken shortly after the shooting that he yelled, “U.S. Marshals! It’s the police!” and “Show me your hands!” Meade retired from the sheriff’s department last year on disability.
Meade's salary was still paid by the county, and he was only authorized to “seek and execute arrest and search warrants” under his marshals' assignment, according to court documents and testimony on Friday.
Cases of fugitives pursued by the task force must be issued a federal identification number and the warrant verified before a task force member can take action, Charles Sanso, a U.S. marshal who oversees four such operations in Ohio, testified Friday. Neither situation existed with Goodson, he said.
After reviewing Meade's actions the day of the shooting, “We concluded that this was not a marshal service shooting,” said Sanso, a witness called by prosecutors.
When Meade saw Goodson with the gun, an act that amounted to a state crime, “he was not exercising federal authority,” Elizabeth Ellis, a special Franklin County prosecutor, told the judge.
But Ryan Rosser, a current member of the Columbus fugitive task force, testified on behalf of Meade that he couldn't equivocally say if Meade was acting as a sheriff's deputy that day.
Meade’s attorneys hope to have him covered by immunity provided to federal officers, meaning his case couldn’t be tried in a state court and the charges would have to be dismissed.
Meade has pleaded not guilty and is free on $250,000 bond.
“It's difficult for an agency to say, for this five minutes you're a federal task force member, and the next minute you're not,” Mark Collins, one of Meade's lawyers, said after the hearing.
Meade's attorneys are trying to “muddy the waters” of the facts of the case, which should remain in state court, Sean Walton, an attorney representing Goodson's family, said afterward.
“If there's anybody that commits a crime that constitutes murder in this country, they're typically tried in state court,” Walton said.
Goodson’s family has also filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit against Meade and the sheriff’s office. The complaint claims Meade received hundreds of hours of firearms and SWAT training but little on violence deescalation techniques.
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