Jury to begin deliberations today in Dartmouth waterfront murder trial

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court jury will start deliberating the fate of Justin Ronald Adams Clarke on Thursday. 

Adams Clarke, 26, of Elmsdale is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Tyler Algee, who was shot in Ferry Terminal Park near Alderney Landing on May 12, 2021, and died in hospital an hour later. 

The 12-person jury was sequestered just after 8 p.m. on Wednesday after receiving final instructions from Justice John Bodurtha. 

Earlier in the day, the prosecutor and defence painted two different pictures as to why Algee was shot and killed 2½ years ago. 

During her closing arguments, defence lawyer Laura McCarthy leaned on Adams Clarke’s testimony. 

Adams Clarke took the stand and admitted he shot Algee with a sawed-off shotgun, but claimed it was fired in self-defence after Algee threatened to fight him and wouldn’t back down. 

The pair didn’t know each other before May 11, 2021, but got into a 45-second scuffle outside of Alderney Landing. 

Adams Clarke testified that on that day, Algee, joined by his girlfriend and friend, walked by him and his friends when Algee turned around, looked at Adams Clarke and started to talk at him. 

He claimed Algee said he was mixed martial arts fighter, which prompted Adams Clarke to say he had a gun. 

From there, things escalated. 

Adams Clarke said Algee made the first swing, punched him several times and put him in multiple chokeholds on the ground despite repeated tapping and telling him to stop. 

Forty-five seconds after the fight started, the pair got up and collected their belongings off the ground, but according to Adams Clarke, Algee took his sweater that had money and drugs in it and tried to make a run for it. 

Security camera footage played in court showed Adams Clarke following Algee as he jogged up the stairs and onto Alderney Drive. Adams Clarke testified he did so to retrieve his sweater, but turned around as he feared another altercation with Algee.

The following day, the paths of Adams Clarke and Algee would cross again near Alderney Landing.

Adams Clarke testified he was in the area to meet a friend and smoke a joint when Algee rounded the corner at Ferry Terminal Park and spotted him and began to confront him.

He said he believed Algee was going to fight him again because he started to take his sweater off and was emptying his pockets, so he pulled out the sawed-off shotgun, as well as cocked the hammer, to try to scare him away.

Adams Clarke claimed that instead of backing down, Algee told him to “f—ng shoot me” and wouldn’t back down. That’s when Adams Clarke pulled the trigger. 

Adams Clarke testified he didn’t mean to kill Algee, but only did so because he felt he had no other choice.  

McCarthy argued Adams Clarke panicked and acted in self-defence as Algee approached him. 

“This isn’t an individual who appears to have a state of mind for murder,” McCarthy said during her closing arguments. 

But Crown attorney Cory Roberts disagreed with McCarthy’s remarks, as well as Adam Clarke’s testimony. 

Roberts said Adams Clarke’s story about being beaten up by Algee “portrayed him as the victim rather than the armed aggressor that he was.” 

Roberts argued Adams Clarke started the fight on May 11, 2021, when he called Algee by the wrong name after he, his girlfriend and friend passed by.

While Roberts acknowledged video footage showed Algee turning around to face Adams Clarke, he argued that Algee didn’t approach Adams Clarke. Instead, Adams Clarke approached Algee and that’s when Algee tried to kick him. 

Roberts said he didn’t know why Algee picked up Adams Clarke’s sweater and took off with it. 

“Either way, that doesn’t justify what happened the next day,” Roberts said. 

Roberts said this was a case of Adams Clarke’s need to get vengeance for having his stuff stolen and being embarrassed and angered by the fight with Algee. 

Adams Clarke was originally accused of second-degree murder in the killing of Algee, but in November 2021, police upgraded the charge to first-degree murder.

Roberts argued that Adams Clarke’s text messages, Google and YouTube searches and actions on May 12, 2021, show he planned to and deliberately killed Algee. 

Evidence found on Adams Clarke’s phone revealed he searched “410 bird shot chest shot” on YouTube and “410 shotgun wounds” on Google, which brought up images of dead bodies, six hours before he shot Algee.

He also exchanged texts with his brother, saying “Imma kill him lololol,” “Where he? Imma go shoot him lololol” and “He just picked my sweater up and ran so Imma have to kill him today.” Adams Clarke admitted the texts were about Algee.

“The phone messages offer you the most ungarnished real sense of what was going through his mind,” Roberts said.

But McCarthy argued Adams Clarke that texts were sent as jokes, adding that was how he and his brother normally talked. 

As for the internet searches, Adams Clarke testified he was doing research for a potential gun buyer who wanted to know what the sawed-off shotgun could do. 

When on the stand, however, Adams Clarke originally refused to give the name of the potential buyer. He would then change his answer to say he couldn’t recall the person’s name, only to offer it up later in his testimony. 

Roberts challenged that Adams Clarke was lying on the stand, similar to what he had done when giving his statement to the police.

But McCarthy argued Adams Clarke admitted to police he was lying and then told them the truth. She encouraged the jury to hold less weight to the testimony of Renee Nickerson, Algee’s girlfriend, as she is “unreliable.” 

The jury consisting of six men and six women will return to court at 9:30 a.m. Thursday before being sent for deliberations. 

Adams Clarke’s trial got underway on Nov. 6 at Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Dartmouth. Since then, two jurors have been discharged, leaving a jury of 12 people to decide Adams Clarke’s fate.