COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A jury has been seated in the murder trial of a former sheriff’s deputy who killed a Black man outside his grandmother’s house.

Opening statements, originally expected Tuesday afternoon, will now happen Wednesday morning in the case against Jason Meade, a former Franklin County sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. in December 2020. Meade faces two counts of murder and one count of reckless homicide for shooting Goodson on Estates Place in Columbus’ northwest side. 

The jury selection process began last week with prospective jurors answering 99 questions. Individual questioning, which began Monday, ranged from asking prospective jurors about their opinion on the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements to the coverage they had consumed related to Goodson’s death — to whether law enforcement “acted professionally” if they or a family member had ever been arrested.

The defense and prosecution entered Tuesday with dozens of prospective jurors to choose from. After hours questioning, juror excusals and breaks, 12 jurors and four alternates were sworn in Tuesday evening. Eight women and four men were named jurors, with three women and one man chosen as alternates.

Unlike most murder trials, the question the jury must answer is not whether Meade killed Goodson; rather, jurors must determine whether Meade was justified when he shot Goodson six times.

Meade and other officers were leaving an operation with the U.S. Marshalls’ Office on Dec. 4, 2020 when Meade spotted Goodson in a car. Meade’s attorneys claim Goodson waved a gun at Meade from the car and failed to heed directions. Before walking into his grandmother’s house, Meade’s attorney has previously said that Goodson turned around and pointed a gun at the deputy.

Goodson’s family asserts a different scenario unfolded that afternoon. Goodson was returning from a dentist appointment with Subway sandwiches in his hand, not a gun. He had earbuds in and wouldn’t have been able to hear Meade’s commands, the family has said. While a gun was recovered from the scene, Goodson’s family said he had a concealed carry permit and took responsible gun ownership very seriously.

What is undisputed is that Goodson was at his grandmother’s front door when Meade shot him six times, five in the back. Goodson’s grandmother, with two toddlers, heard the shooting through the door. Franklin County sheriff’s deputies did not wear body cameras at the time, meaning there is no footage of the shooting.

Tamala Payne, Goodson’s mother, said she didn’t feel anxious — she felt her son with her in the courtroom. Tuesday would have been Goodson’s 27th birthday.

“I’m just keeping my faith in God, and knowing that we will prevail,” Payne said.

Who will be in the courtroom?

Meade spent his entire law enforcement career at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, first becoming a deputy in 2007. He left the force in July 2021 on disability retirement, five months before he was charged in Goodson’s death. He had been on paid leave since shooting Goodson.

The former Marine had been on the sheriff’s office SWAT team since 2014, according to his personnel file. He was previously a pastor at Rosedale Freewill Baptist Church in Irwin.

Representing Meade is a trio of seasoned criminal defense attorneys: Mark Collins, Kaitlyn Stephens and Steven Nolder. 

Collins and Stephens have represented a swathe of law enforcement officials under prosecutorial scrutiny for their use of force, including former Columbus police vice officer Andrew Mitchell, who killed Donna Castleberry in 2018, and Adam Coy, a former Columbus police officer who killed Andre Hill weeks after Meade killed Goodson. Collins also represents a Blendon Township officer who killed 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young outside a Kroger this past August. 

Collins declined to comment.

Presenting the state’s case are special prosecutors Gary Shroyer and Tim Merkle, tapped by the Franklin County prosecutor’s office since it typically represents the sheriff’s office. Like the defense team, Shroyer and Merkle have ample experience prosecuting – or choosing not to prosecute – officers who kill in the line of duty. 

Merkle and Shroyer are handling the murder case against former Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson, who killed Donovan Lewis in his bed in the Hilltop in August 2022. In March 2022, Shroyer and Merkle declined to bring charges against Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon, who killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant as she swung a knife at a woman. 

Presiding over the case is Judge David Young, who has served on the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for a decade. He was a trial attorney for 25 years before that and previously served as an assistant prosecutor for Franklin County. Young presided over both state trials of Mitchell, the Columbus vice officer who killed a woman.

With Goodson’s family in the courtroom will likely be Sean Walton, a civil rights attorney who is representing the family in its wrongful death lawsuit against Meade and the county. That lawsuit has been paused while the criminal trial proceeds.

“I think that Casey should have the opportunity to have his case heard by Franklin County residents,” Walton told NBC4 Tuesday. “It’s important that we’re here, that they are hearing the facts.”