COLUMBUS, Ohio — The family of a man shot by a Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputy asked a federal court on Wednesday to stop delaying their wrongful death lawsuit against the deputy.
Authorities say Casey Goodson Jr., 23, was shot in the back as he entered his grandmother’s house in late 2020. Deputy Jason Meade has pleaded not guilty to murder and reckless homicide in the shooting.
Mark Collins, Meade's attorney, says Goodson pointed a gun and ignored a command to drop it. Goodson's family notes he was licensed to carry a gun, but says he was holding a bag of sandwiches at the time.
A federal judge paused the civil rights lawsuit against Meade and Franklin County until after the criminal case. The officer had argued that simultaneously defending himself in both cases would put him in a no-win situation.
With the criminal trial pushed back repeatedly, the delays are prejudicing the family’s civil case as their lawyers wait to continue the process of investigating facts, evidence and potential witnesses, said Sean Walton, an attorney for Goodson’s family. At least one person with relevant information about the day of the shooting has died, Walton said.
At a press conference Wednesday, Walton also disclosed that Goodson's family found his AirPods wireless headphones at the scene after other evidence had been collected and gave them to authorities. He said the family believes it's likely Goodson was wearing the headphones and listening to music that day, and couldn't hear any shouted commands from the officer.
Walton said the delay in the civil case has kept their attorneys from learning more about whether the evidence gathered, including Goodson's smartphone, might provide further information about that.
Franklin County’s prosecutor and board of commissioners said Wednesday they aren’t commenting on the pending cases.
10TV reached out to Collins and the special prosecutor overseeing the case.
Collins said the case will come down to what a reasonable police officer in that position could have believed about the situational need to use deadly force.
“The law prohibits us from looking at an incident with the 20/20 vision of hindsight. What is to be analyzed is only what the officer knew at the time he made his or her decision to use deadly force,” Collins said.
The special prosecutor said they are exclusively involved in the crime case and are not part of the civil proceedings related to Goodson’s death.
“We sympathize with the Goodson family, and we are dedicated to achieving justice in the criminal matter.”