Former fugitive who hid in South America after N.S. killing released from prison

A man who spent five years on the run from police after shooting a man to death in Nova Scotia has been released from prison on day parole.

Steven Douglas Skinner has servedtwo years of a six-year sentence for manslaughter in the death of Stacey Adams in April 2011. Skinner evaded police for five years after the killing, hiding out in Central and South America before being arrested by police on a beach in Venezuela.

Skinner was initially charged with second-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter before his trial. He was sentenced in September2019 to 11 years in prison but was given credit of five years for the time he spent in custody awaiting trial, leaving six years remaining on his sentence.

While on the run, Skinner was accused of being a senior member of a South American drug cartel, an allegation he denied to the Parole Board of Canada panel when it considered his release request this fall.

Skinner says life was in danger

In explaining his actions to the panel, Skinner said he believed his life was in danger and his family might be at risk as well. He told the panel he fled to Mexico and staged his own death to try to deal with a contract he believed someone had placed on his life.

He told the panel that 10 years have passed since he killed Adams and he believes the contract on his life is no longer an issue.

The board noted that Skinner has not caused any problems while in prison and has the support of family and friends.

Skinner's day parole runs for six months. He must live at a halfway house and return nightly. He is to abstain from drugs and alcohol, stay away from known criminals and have no contact with the Adams family.