With jury chosen, opening statements set Wednesday in ex-deputy Jason Meade's murder trial

After more than 100 potential jurors filled out a lengthy questionnaire and two days of jury selection, a jury has been seated in the murder trial of former Franklin County Sheriff's SWAT deputy Michael Jason Meade.

Meade, 45, a white man, faces murder and reckless homicide charges in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in connection with the fatal shooting on Dec. 4, 2020 of Casey Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old Black man.

On what would have been Goodson's 27th birthday, Judge David Young swore in twelve jurors and four alternates late Tuesday afternoon, and opening statements are expected Wednesday morning. The jury is made up of four men and eight women. All 12 jurors appeared to be white, with one Black man among the alternates.

Since this shooting received a lot of local and national media attention and law enforcement shootings of Blacks in recent years have been a flashpoint since George Floyd Jr. was murdered by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020, the process of selecting a jury from a random pool of registered voters in Franklin County was more involved than in most trials.

Follow The Dispatch's live coverage here Trial begins in case of ex-deputy Jason Meade for fatally shooting Casey Goodson Jr.

Meade had been working as a member of a federal fugitive apprehension task force that day when they dispersed for the day. Through his attorneys, Meade has alleged that Goodson drove by while waving a handgun around, pointing it at another driver and Meade’s unmarked vehicle. Goodson had a concealed carry license to carry a gun. Meade followed Goodson to a home on the 3900 block of Estates Place in North Linden, where Goodson resided with his grandmother and others. Meade's attorneys have said Goodson didn't heed verbal commands from Meade to show his hands or drop his weapon.

Goodson's family has said he was carrying sandwiches in one hand and his keys in another while returning home from a dentist's appointment and had earbuds in at the time. Meade shot him six times, with five of the bullets striking him in his back.

Jurors came in last week and filled out a 99-question juror questionnaire, obtained by The Dispatch, which included simple demographic questions about age and gender, as well as questions how much they may already know about the case from the news or social media and their opinions on "Black Lives Matter" or the "Blue Lives Matter" movements.

Jurors were brought into the courtroom individually on Monday morning to answer follow-up questions based on their questionnaires.

Young dismissed some jurors if they could not sit through a two-week trial for whatever reason such as needing to work, if he determined they were unlikely to remain unbiased or if they were otherwise unsuitable.

For example, on Tuesday morning, a potential juror came forward and said he could not be impartial because he has friends in law enforcement. Young dismissed him.

Attorneys also asked the jury pool questions Tuesday before each side got to pick several jurors to dismiss. Defense attorneys dismissed three potential jurors and the prosecutors dismissed five potential jurors.

Tim Merkle, one of the special prosecutors appointed by Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack, asked potential jurors how they would determine the credibility of witnesses, whether law enforcement officers are inherently more trustworthy and whether they would believe a statement given immediately after an incident more than one given later.

Merkle also asked the juror pool if they used earbuds or had a concealed carry license.

One of Meade's defense attorneys, Mark Collins, talked with potential jurors about how the law states they have to consider Meade's perspective — but not Goodson's perspective — when deciding if Meade was reasonable in believing he was in imminent danger when he shot Goodson.

After talking about how witnesses might remember things differently but aren't necessarily lying, Collins played a video for the potential jurors. Prosecutors objected, but Judge Young overruled their concerns. Collins told the jury pool to count the number of times the people wearing white shirts in the video passed a basketball.

The video was produced as part of an experiment at Harvard University during which a person in a gorilla costume walks through the middle of the game, but many viewers focus on the basketball and don't notice the gorilla.

Meade's trial is expected to last two weeks. After opening statements Wednesday, the jury will be taken on Wednesday afternoon to see the home where Meade shot Goodson. The first witnesses in the case will be called on Thursday.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jury selected in trial of Jason Meade for shooting Casey Goodson Jr.