The legal team defending Jason Meade, the former Franklin County Sheriff's deputy on trial on charges of murder and reckless homicide, rested their case Tuesday.
But before closing arguments, the prosecution called in two rebuttal witnesses.
The discovery of an unexpected witness delayed the trial by two days, as both sides got the chance to interview Christopher Corne on Friday and Monday. He's a heating and cooling technician who was working in the area on the day in December of 2020, when Meade shot and killed Casey Goodson Jr. on Estates Place in North Linden.
Corne came forward after the trial had already started and after watching parts of the trial on the news, which usually isn't allowed for witnesses in a trial. GPS and video evidence show Corne's van was at the scene. He said he came forward to "do the right thing."
Corne contradicted Meade's testimony that Goodson was waving a gun around and pointing it at people while driving past him in an intersection. Corne said he saw Goodson in the same intersection, but he didn't have a gun in his hand.
"I noticed a car come around the corner, and the person was driving a little erratic and what appeared to be dancing in his car and singing with music," Corne said.
The defense questioned Corne about his memory of the events, arguing that he seemed to remember some things and not others. The defense also highlighted that Corne deleted a social media account he used to reach out to Goodson's family and post about the case.
Defense attorney Steven Nolder asked Corne, "isn't it true during that deposition that you said that it's quite possible that Mr. Meade saw something that you didn't see? Isn't that true?"
Corne said, "Sure."
Corne did not see or hear the shooting.
After Corne's testimony, the prosecution called Seth Stoughton, a professor of law in South Carolina, as a use-of-force expert to counter the defense's consultant Kevin Davis, who testified last week about the decisions Meade made in the lead up to the shooting.
Stoughton found fault with the decisions Meade made, while Davis supported Meade's decisions. Stoughton said Meade didn't communicate enough with his fellow officers at the scene about what the threat was and why, and Meade didn't give them time to gear up properly before he approached Goodson and shot him in the doorway.
Stoughton said Meade had a rifle that's accurate at long range, so he could have hung back, instead of following Goodson into the house, and that Meade didn't have enough information to decide Goodson was a threat.
