A Nova Scotia judge has ordered that William Sandeson will get his laptop and cryptocurrency back. “The Crown has not met its burden to demonstrate the cryptocurrency was used as part of the drug transaction, proceeds of crime or otherwise tainted by criminality,” Justice John Bodurtha ruled on Tuesday. A jury found Sandeson, a former medical student, guilty of second-degree murder in 2023 in the 2015 shooting death of Taylor Samson, a fellow student, whose body was never found. During his trial, Sandeson had testified before a Nova Scotia Supreme Court jury that he killed physics student Samson in self defence on Aug. 15, 2015, but the jury rejected that claim. Samson arrived with nine kilograms of marijuana and was expecting to be paid $40,000 for 20 bags weighing one pound each. Laptop and cryptocurrency returned The Bitcoin’s value is unclear, but Sandeson had estimated he had access to $8,000 on the night of the murder. A lawyer who represented Samson’s family previously said the cryptocurrency could be worth more than $200,000. “The Crown’s case regarding this item was purely speculative, with no evidence of actual dealing with the Bitcoin in relation to the murder.” But the same can’t be said for $5,000 cash that was found in a garbage can; that will not be returned. “I find that the $5,000 in cash found in the respondent’s apartment after the murder is forfeited as offence-related property,” Bodurtha ruled. Sandeson appeared virtually from a Quebec prison on Tuesday, wearing a blue T-shirt and glasses. He appeared to occasionally take notes during the proceedings. Trial testimony On Feb. 7, 2023, Crown prosecutor Carla Ball suggested Sandeson was motivated to kill because he was mired in debt and was about to spend a small fortune on tuition and books as he was days away from beginning medical school at Dalhousie. She said the cost of Sandeson’s medical degree over four years was estimated at $112,000. And she reminded the jury the accused had $78,000 outstanding on a line of credit. “You were in debt, big time,” the prosecutor told Sandeson. Sandeson repeatedly denied the allegation, saying he was in good financial shape because of drug debts he was owed, a student grant and the possibility the cost of his education would be covered by the provincial government if he chose to practise in a rural community. “I was under next to no financial pressure,” he said. “I had a large balance owing on the line of credit, but I had assets that more than balanced the line of credit.” The accused said that aside from his drug dealing, which earned him about $8,000 a month by the summer of 2015, he also held three jobs, including part-time positions at two hospitals and at a home for the intellectually disabled. Two trials The 2023 second-degree murder trial, lasting six weeks, was the second time Sandeson was tried for the crime. After being convicted in 2017 of first-degree murder, the verdict was overturned on appeal, and a new trial was ordered. Sandeson appealed his second-degree murder conviction Oct. 10, 2025. That appeal was denied in December. With files from The Canadian Press For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
