Former Nova Scotia med student awaiting second murder trial appeals bail denial

William Sandeson THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX — A former Nova Scotia medical student whose murder conviction was overturned last year is appealing a judge's decision to deny him bail.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice James Chipman dismissed an application for bail from William Sandeson Friday following a hearing in Halifax.

It was the third time a bail application by Sandeson was denied by the courts.

In a notice filed today with the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, Sandeson is asking that Chipman's decision be overturned and that he be released from custody.

In the document, Sandeson says he will have served more than seven years in jail by the time his second trial begins in 2023.

Sandeson, who was convicted in 2017 of the first-degree murder of fellow Dalhousie University student Taylor Samson, has been in custody since his arrest in August 2015.

Nova Scotia's top court ordered a new trial last year, saying the lower court judge had infringed on Sandeson's right to a fair trial.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2021.