Sandeson murder trial: Publication ban lifted on key evidence jury didn't hear
CTV
The case against a former Dalhousie University medical student accused of killing another student during a drug deal and dismembering his body is now in the hands of a jury. And with the jury sequestered, a publication ban has been lifted on key evidence the 12 men and women did not hear.
The case against a former Dalhousie University medical student accused of killing another student during a drug deal and dismembering his body is now in the hands of a jury.
And with the jury sequestered, a publication ban has been lifted on key evidence the 12 men and women did not hear, including a remarkable change in his account of how physics student Taylor Samson died.
The high-profile case in Nova Scotia Supreme Court is the second time William Sandeson has been tried for the fatal shooting of Samson in a Halifax apartment on Aug. 15, 2015.
Sandeson, 30, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, claiming he shot the 22-year-old victim in self-defence and later dumped his intact body in a tidal river. Samson's remains have not yet been found.
In 2017, a jury found Sandeson guilty of the crime. He was automatically sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
But Sandeson's lawyer later argued his client's right to a fair trial had been violated because a private investigator employed by the defence team had given incriminating evidence to Halifax police -- and that betrayal was not revealed until the trial started.
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal decided the trial judge had erred by failing to declare a mistrial. The verdict was overturned in 2020 and a new trial ordered.
