In brief
- A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge ordered that a laptop holding a Bitcoin wallet be returned to the family of convicted killer William Sandeson.
- Justice John Bodurtha found the Crown had failed to prove the Bitcoin was connected to the 2015 murder of Dalhousie University student Taylor Samson.
- The wallet has been valued at anywhere from C$8,000 to more than C$200,000, and was at the center of a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Samson's family.
A Canadian judge has ordered that a laptop containing a Bitcoin wallet be returned to the family of William Sandeson, who is serving a life sentence for the 2015 murder of fellow university student Taylor Samson during a drugs deal, Global News reported.
Justice John Bodurtha of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that prosecutors had not proved the cryptocurrency was linked to the killing. Sandeson, who appeared virtually at the hearing in Halifax, had filed a motion in April seeking the return of personal items seized when police searched his apartment after his arrest in 2015.
→"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," Bodurtha said, adding that its potential use in the deal was "hypothetical."
The judge did rule that about $3,600 (C$5,000) in cash found in Sandeson's apartment after the murder was "offence-related property," meaning it will not be returned.
Sandeson has said the Bitcoin was worth between about $5,800 and $7,200 (C$8,000 to C$10,000), according to Global News. A lawyer representing Samson's family in a separate wrongful death lawsuit, in which the cryptocurrency had been at the center, has said it could now be worth more than $144,000 (C$200,000). Global News did not report how much Bitcoin the wallet holds.
The Sandeson case
Sandeson, then 23 and about to start medical school at Dalhousie University, arranged for Samson, 22, to come to his apartment on August 15, 2015, to sell him cannabis that Sandeson had arranged to buy for C$40,000, according to prosecutors at his 2023 trial. Sandeson shot Samson, kept the drugs and the money, and later admitted to dumping his body in a river that feeds the Bay of Fundy. Samson's remains have never been found.
Sandeson was convicted of first-degree murder in 2017, but an appeals court overturned the verdict in 2020. At a second trial in 2023, he admitted to shooting Samson but said he acted in self-defense. A jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, which carries an automatic life sentence. He is serving his sentence in Quebec and will be eligible for parole in 2030.