N.S. man accused of 2nd-degree murder found not criminally responsible

A Dartmouth man who admitted he killed his neighbour in a dispute over loud music has been found not criminally responsible for murder.

John Edward Adams told police and psychiatrists that he was hearing voices when he killed Ryan Lindsay on March 4, 2022. Lindsay, 32, was stabbed multiple times in the hallway outside his apartment in a building on the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Wyse Road in Dartmouth.

Adams, who was 36 at the time, said while the voices didn't tell him to kill his neighbour, he felt "empowered" by telepathic messages he was receiving. Two psychiatrists provided reports saying Adams was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the attack and didn't know that killing his neighbour was wrong.

According to evidence presented in Nova Scotia Supreme Court during a two-day hearing earlier this month, Lindsay was sitting on the floor of the apartment he shared with his mother, Sylvia, listening to music late on the evening of March 4, 2022.

Sylvia Lindsay told court they heard loud banging on the wall of the apartment that was forceful enough to knock over a clock. Police had been called to the unit earlier in the evening for a noise complaint but left after they knocked on the door and the loud music stopped. That was just after 10 p.m. AT.

About an hour later, Sylvia Lindsay called 911 to say her son had been stabbed. She said he had gone next door and banged on their neighbour's door. She said she'd persuaded him to return to their apartment when Adams came out of his apartment "in a rage" and brandishing a knife.

Adams, who was charged with second-degree murder, had a history of medical interventions for his mental health in the years before 2022. 

"A concern about his psychiatric condition did not appear on the scene only with the incident that led to the death of Ryan Lindsay," Justice Jamie Campbell noted in his decision. 

Nova Scotia's Criminal Code Review Board will now take charge of Adams. He'll receive treatment at the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Burnside.