Markel Jason Downey, accused of attempting to kill three teens during a 2014 home invasion in Cole Harbour, is back in police custody.
Downey, 22, was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over by RCMP in a traffic stop on Caldwell Road in Cole Harbour on Tuesday morning, police said in a news release.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued for Downey last month in relation to a triple shooting at a house on Arklow Drive on Nov. 30, 2014.
Downey, a gold-medal boxer as a 15-year-old at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, was acquitted on the attempted murder charges last February by Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Michael Wood, who cited concerns with witness Ashley MacLean Kearse’s ability to correctly identify Downey.
The acquittal was overturned by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal two weeks ago and a new trial ordered.
MacLean Kearse was one of three teens present that night when four masked individuals broke into the Dartmouth home seeking money and marijuana. All three were held at gunpoint.
According to testimony at trial, MacLean Kearse told the intruders repeatedly that they should leave because they would get caught. At one point, the person holding the gun warned that no one was going to snitch because they were all going to die. He then fired nine rounds from a .22-calibre revolver, striking all three teens.
As MacLean Kearse was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, she told the police officer riding along that the shooter was “Baby Jason.” She repeated this twice more, stating his full name was Jason Downey.
Downey, who was tried as an adult, and the otherthree, who can’t be identified because they were under 18, were arrested shortly after.
The three arrested youths admitted to participating in the robbery.
MacLean Kearse was paralyzed in the shooting. The trial hinged on her ability to identify Downey as the masked shooter.
MacLean Kearse said she knew him as a friend of friends and from speaking to him at Cole Harbour District High School, and claimed that she recognized him as soon as he walked in the door the night of the attempted robbery — before he even spoke.
In his decision, Wood said her identification testimony was not strong enough.
In a strongly worded ruling, the Appeal Court found Wood erred in points of law.
