Nova Scotia man convicted of murder asks court to approve return of personal items

William Sandeson, left, arrives for his preliminary hearing at provincial court in Halifax on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

HALIFAX — A convicted killer from Nova Scotia is asking a court to order police to return personal items seized during the investigation that led to his life sentence in prison.

In February 2023, former medical student William Sandeson was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting fellow Dalhousie University student Taylor Samson during a drug deal in August 2015.

During a retrial in 2023, Sandeson confirmed that he dumped the 22-year-old’s body among some garbage bags in a tidal river that feeds the Bay of Fundy near Truro in central Nova Scotia.

Samson’s body has yet to be found. Sandeson is serving time in a Quebec prison.

In an affidavit filed with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in February of this year, Sandeson says he in entitled to recover up to $300 dollars in American cash that was seized from the safe in his Halifax apartment, as well as several items of personal property that he says could be sent to his immediate family.

The affidavit, however, also states there are some exceptions to what he is seeking to regain. These include his handgun and ammunition, any narcotics or controlled substances, and bloodstained Canadian currency that police found during their investigation.

“Most items of my personal property have, to varying degrees, sentimental value, monetary value and useful value to me and/or my immediate family,” the affidavit says.

As well, Sandeson’s affidavit says he wants to transfer ownership of “any item considered a weapon (e.g. knives) to the immediate member of my family who recovers this property on my behalf from the state.”

Sandeson was convicted of first-degree murder after a jury trial in 2017. But that conviction was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered. Though the charge was first-degree murder, the second jury convicted him of second-degree murder.

During his second trial, court heard Sandeson had invited Samson to his Halifax apartment to buy nine kilograms of cannabis worth $40,000. The accused insisted he shot the drug dealer in self-defence after a struggle with the much larger physics student.

The Crown argued that Sandeson, who was also a drug dealer, had planned to kill Samson and steal the cannabis because the accused was deep in debt and needed the money to pay for medical school.

“I pulled the trigger, but I never wanted to hurt anyone that night,” Sandeson told the court.

The Crown argued that in August 2015, Sandeson was carrying a $78,000 line of credit and that he fired a bullet through the back of Samson’s head soon after he arrived at the apartment on Henry Street.

Meanwhile, Sandeson is moving ahead with a separate court bid to recover a laptop computer that contains the digital keys to cryptocurrency, a portion of which his family has been unable to recover, his affidavit says.

During a separate court hearing in 2024, a judge said Sandeson had at least $443,000 in bitcoin and another $198,000 in cash at the time he was incarcerated in 2015.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2026.