In a courtroom drama that could be scripted as a true-crime thriller, the murder trial of Canadian battle rap legend Pat Stay has taken a shocking turn. As jurors heard closing arguments on the fate of Adam Drake, the accused murderer of Stay, a separate bombshell was announced: Drake had long ago been convicted in another stunningly violent murder, an “execution-style” shooting from years prior.
Adam Drake, 34, was convicted in Oct 2024 in the cold-blooded murder of 22-year-old Tyler Keizer in 2016. Keizer was shot multiple times in a car in a Halifax parking lot in what Justice Timothy Gabriel called in court an “execution-style” killing. The decision was still sealed until June 18, the same day that Drake’s jury deliberated in the Pat Stay case.
And the timing couldn’t have been more dramatic. For the Keizer murder, Drake was sentenced to the mandatory sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Drake further exacerbated the tension during his sentencing, heartlessly saying to Keizer’s devastated family in court, “At least I’m going home some day,” causing an uproar from the supporters of the murdered man.
Enter the trial of Pat Stay’s murder, which played out in all of its harrowing, edge-of-your-seat accounts. Stay, a well-respected figure in Canadian hip-hop and the battle rap circuit was fatally stabbed on September 4, 2022, at the Yacht Club Social nightclub in Halifax, a popular nightlife spot.
The prosecution’s case is mainly based on a surveillance video that recorded a violent confrontation with Stay. The grainy video captures Stay with blood on his shirt, getting hit, and, finally, falling. But, infuriatingly for the court, the actual blade plunge was not captured on camera. Drake’s defense team made the most of this, saying the footage was too murky to clearly identify Drake as the attacker and urging jurors to find reasonable doubt.
For his part, Drake remained silent throughout the trial and didn’t take the stand to give evidence in his defense. His lawyer also diminished his own Facebook post made two weeks before the incident to suggest the accused had no predetermination.
Still, with Drake’s earlier murder conviction looming large, the jury has a tough call to make. The release of the Keizer verdict during the trial serves only to compound the gravity and complexity of the case, damning a man with a history of violence as he faces another lethal charge.
This trial has been a gut-wrenching ride for those who followed Pat Stay; we send our thoughts to them. Stay’s influence on the battle rap scene was immense, and his violent, sudden death rippled through the music world. Now, the courts are left to grapple with justice for Pat Stay and the larger narrative of a man whose actions have since turned many lives upside down.
As the jury deliberates, the case is a sobering reminder of the frailties of life and the price that is paid for violence, as well as of man’s troubled quest for truth in the dark and bloody paths of a violent history. It’s something the Halifax community is watching closely in the hopes of finally finding closure. Still, it is simultaneously haunted by the chilling echoes of “execution-style” justice that have dogged this trial, casting a long, dark shadow over it.
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