Adam Drake guilty of murder in fatal stabbing of battle rapper Pat Stay

A Nova Scotia jury has found a 34-year-old man guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of battle rapper Pat Stay, a 36-year-old father of two who was fatally stabbed 2½ years ago at a downtown Halifax nightclub.

The verdict was delivered Wednesday afternoon in the case of Adam Drake following a trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court that started a month ago. Jurors began their deliberations Tuesday afternoon and were sequestered overnight.

Stay's family members gasped in relief and cried in the courtroom. Drake turned to them and said, "Sorry, they got it wrong, you don't got justice."

Stay's spouse, Malyssa Burns, wept outside the courtroom.

She told reporters the five weeks of trial have been the longest of her life and the guilty verdict has brought great relief. Stay was an "amazing person" who deserves the love so many people have shown, she said.

"I feel like he's at peace now," she said.

The conviction for second-degree murder carries with it an automatic life sentence. Parole ineligibility can range from 10 to 25 years and will be determined by Justice Scott Norton.

A date for sentencing will be set Friday. The majority of jury members recommended 25 years.

Drake is already serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in the 2016 shooting death of Tyler Keizer, 22. However, the jury in the Stay trial was not told of the conviction in order to preserve Drake's right to a fair trial.

Stay's family and friends cheered on Wednesday as the two prosecutors in the case, Tanya Carter and Carla Ball, emerged from the courtroom following the guilty verdict.

"We know that the jury has given this a lot of careful consideration," Ball said. "They were very attentive and we're very pleased with the result and we're very thankful to them for coming to this determination."

A key piece of evidence at the trial was grainy black and white surveillance video from inside the Yacht Club Social. It shows Stay, with his back to the camera, in an altercation with someone.

As Stay turns, he wipes blood from his chest, is punched and then falls. He gets back to his feet and stumbles out of the camera's view, dying a short time later in a Halifax hospital.

The Crown argued last week Drake is the only person who could have done the stabbing, based on tracing the steps of each person near Stay and using the process of elimination. The defence urged the jury to disregard the video and find Drake not guilty.

Carter said closing arguments at trial were the first opportunity for the Crown to help the jury make sense of the video, and it's clear from the verdict they were able to analyze it and follow along.

"While we always felt the video was clear and, certainly, reliable, when you watch it the first time it appears busy," she said. "I think helping people understand that they can take their time and individually look at each person and each piece in the video and work their way through it that way was crucial for them."

The trial in Stay's death has been emotionally charged, with numerous people attending and tensions spilling outside the courtroom several times. In the final days, supporters of Stay confronted Drake's lawyers more than once outside the courthouse.

Sheriffs reprimanded people in the public gallery for making loud comments during defence closing submissions Monday, and lawyer Michael Lacy was subsequently blocked by a man on a motorcycle as he tried to drive out of the parking lot.

The jury was not told that Drake had already been convicted of first-degree murder in October in Keizer's death, with details of that trial kept under publication ban. The ban lifted Tuesday when the jury was sequestered.

"It's extremely important to ensure that an accused person has a fair trial, and we don't want anything to come in that could influence them in a way that's not appropriate," Carter said.

"We can feel really confident that the jury in this case made their determination without having to think about that and have that weigh on their mind, and that's absolutely appropriate."

Lacy said prior to the verdict he would make no public comments.

Drake was charged with first-degree murder in 2019 in Keizer's death. The charge was withdrawn by the Crown in 2021, with a prosecutor telling the court, without elaboration, that there was no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction.

That changed a month after Stay was killed, with police resurrecting the charge against Drake for Keizer's killing. He went on trial in April 2024, with a judge finding him guilty last fall.