NS man to face two counts of premeditated murder in 2024

A Nova Scotia man will face two counts of first-degree murder next year.

Lawyers for Adam Joseph Drake, 32, appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court Thursday morning to set dates for a jury trial in the September murder of Dartmouth rapper Pat Stay.

Drake’s trial is expected to begin in September 2024 and last until the following month.

Stay, 36, was stabbed outside a bar in downtown Halifax and later died in hospital. Drake was charged a week after the stabbing and has been in custody ever since.

A bail hearing for Drake began this week and is set to resume in late May. As is customary, the publication of evidence and arguments in the bail hearing is prohibited.

Drake’s other trial is set to begin April 2 of next year and run until early May. That charge relates to the November 2016 murder of Tyler Keizer.

Keiser, 22, was shot in north Halifax and later died in hospital.

Drake was originally scheduled to stand trial for Keizer’s death in 2021, but the Public Prosecution Service withdrew the charges just before the start of the trial, saying there was no reasonable chance of a conviction.

The murder charge in the Keizer case was only revived after Drake was charged with Stay’s murder.

Drake’s lawyer in that case, Stan MacDonald, disputes the manner in which the charges were refiled and wants that challenge heard before trial. The Crown preferred an indictment, meaning there was no pretrial investigation.

A preliminary investigation into Stay’s murder will be opened in September.

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