Steven Skinner to change plea to guilty in upcoming murder trial

Steven Douglas Skinner has decided to plead guilty to a lesser charge less than one week before his second-degree murder trial in the 2011 shooting death of Stacey Adams.

Skinner will enter the guilty plea in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Tuesday, said his lawyer Stan MacDonald.

The Crown would not confirm what charge was offered to Skinner ahead of the court appearance, said public prosecution spokesperson Chris Hansen.

Adams, 20, was shot to death at close range in the driveway of a Lake Echo home on April 10, 2011.

5 years on the run

Two days after the homicide, Skinner left Canada for Mexico.

Skinner spent over five years on the run from authorities using a series of aliases until he was arrested on a Venezuelan beach in 2016 and extradited to Canada.

Skinner was on Interpol's most-wanted list and was considered "armed, dangerous and violent."

The Adams family is "extremely disappointed" that a deal was offered, said Kendelle Blois, a close friend of Adams's mother, Gloria.

"It's very difficult and horrific to hear details about how Stacey was murdered and then find out that's there's going to not be a trial," she said.

"I believe that the justice system accommodates and enables people like Steven Skinner and families don't get the truth. It's unjust for Stacey's mom and Stacey's family," Blois said.

Blois said the Adams family wanted a full trial so the truth could come out.

"Making a deal is not putting the public first and it is not putting the victims first. It is putting Steven Skinner first." 

Last year, Colombian authorities alleged Skinner was a ringleader in a drug cartel and accused him of murdering an accomplice before he escaped to Venezuela.

Skinner's trial was set to start on Tuesday.