The Crown has withdrawn charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder against a Nova Scotia man in connection with a shooting two years ago in North Preston.

Daniel Romeo Downey, 28, was accused of shooting Dieago Downey on March 14, 2024. 

The 18-year-old victim was found wounded at the scene on Downey Road and died later in hospital. Both men were related.

Police previously said another man who was at the scene when the shooting occurred was the intended target but was not harmed.

On Monday, Crown prosecutor Rob Kennedy told Justice Jamie Campbell of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court that there was no realistic prospect of conviction in the case.

ID of perpetrator ‘key issue’

Speaking outside court, Kennedy described the case as challenging from the outset.

“This was a case where identification of the perpetrator was the key issue in the case, the case was based on circumstantial evidence,” he said.

Kennedy said prosecutors assessed their meetings with witnesses against the evidence that was likely to come out at trial. 

“And based on all of that, we reached the conclusion there’s no realistic prospect of conviction.”

Downey had been scheduled to go on trial next month. The Crown had agreed to a defence request for a judge-alone trial. Murder cases are generally argued before a jury.

Downey was released from prison in November 2022 after serving most of a 50-month sentence on charges including kidnapping, unlawful confinement and accessory after the fact to murder.

The charges were connected to the murder of Tylor McInnis, whose body was found in the trunk of a car in a North Preston graveyard in August 2016.

Downey’s older brother, Shawntez Nico Downey, was convicted of second-degree murder in McInnis’s death.

MORE TOP STORIES