Casey Goodson Jr. might be a name that you forgot due to the overwhelming amount of Black names that have circulated the news cycle over the years, but we assure you that his loved ones have not.
BOSSIP first reported on Goodson’s shooting death at the hands of Ohio Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Meade back in December 2020. Meade shot Goodson five times in the back and once in the side after it was alleged that he was waving a firearm in the air. Like so many others who have been beaten, maimed, or killed by law enforcement, Goodson was not the person that officers were looking for, yet he’s dead all the same.
Yesterday, according to CBS News, Meade was found guilty of reckless homicide. Unfortunately, the jury could not conclude the murder charge that former deputy Meade was also facing. During the trial, not a single person testified that Goodson, a registered firearms owner, had a weapon at the time he was killed, contrary to Meade’s allegations.
Tamala Payne, Goodson’s mother, has been fighting for years to get justice for her son and to see Meade held to account for taking his life. Unsurprisingly, this conviction is met with mixed emotions.
Via 10WBNS:
“You know, we’d all like to see him be found guilty of murder because what he did is murder Casey,” Payne said after the verdict. “I don’t even like to say he murdered Casey — he executed Casey.”
The family’s attorney, Sean Walton, says that he and his legal team have still not crossed the finish line of justice. This marks the second time that a jury was unable to decide whether or not Meade’s reckless homicide meets the legal standard of murder.
“Knowing that in the first trial, nine jurors wanted to convict him of murder, and (in) this trial, 10 jurors wanted to convict him of murder, there’s an overwhelming number of folks who hear this case and they understand that this was murder,” Walton said.
Got to respect the dedication to calling a thing a thing. Give ‘em hell, counselor.
