Judges reserve decision for Adam Drake’s appeal of 2024 murder conviction

Adam Drake is appealing a murder conviction from 2024 at the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

Adam Joseph Drake, who was convicted last year for the murder of Nova Scotia battle rapper Pat Stay, is appealing a separate murder conviction from 2024.

On Wednesday, a three-member panel reserved their decision on his application.

Drake was convicted of the first-degree murder of 22-year-old Tyler Keizer, who was gunned down in a parking lot near the Salvation Army building on Gottingen Street on Nov. 21, 2016. He later died in hospital.

According to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, Drake was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 25 years in October 2024.

The court says Drake is basing his appeal on the claim the trial judge erred in dismissing his application for a stay based on unreasonable delay, failing to consider and assess exculpatory evidence led by the Crown, and failing to properly assess the evidence of the witness who testified about the shooting.

Drakes case took almost 62 months from the first charge being laid to the conclusion of his trial. His lawyers say, for the most part, the Crown is to blame.

“It is our submission that the conduct of the Crown cannot be described as anything but complacent,” said lawyer Stan MacDonald. “The bird’s eye view is that Mr. Drake’s right to be tried within a reasonable time was not given proper priority by the Crown.”

Drake’s lawyers argue he was not tried in a reasonable amount of time, pointing to the Jordan Principle, which puts a 30-month ‘ceiling’ on how long it can take to be tried in Supreme Court.

“Some people may believe that ordering a stay of a first-degree murder conviction is wrong, and likely, it would produce an outcry among certain people,” MacDonald said. “But what needs to be remembered…is that the right to be tried within a reasonable time is a constitutional guarantee.”

Crown attorney Glenn Hubbard said it was up to Drake’s team to determine why classifying this case as “complex,” which the trial judge did, was an error.

He also said the COVID-19 pandemic closure of courtrooms, delays in jury trials and general uncertainty wreaked havoc on the justice system.

“In March, jury trials were delayed for a full year, which impacted when this trial was set,” Hubbard said, also pointing to a second pandemic delay.

“COVID is getting this backlog of cases that’s filling this sort of reservoir. If you look at COVID as the dam in the river, all these cases are piling up.”

In his court filing, Hubbard also described “voluminous disclosure materials,” and a “significant number of pre-trial applications.”

Last October, Drake received a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 17 years for the second-degree murder of Pat Stay, who was fatally stabbed in a Halifax club in 2022.

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Callum Smith

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