Murder trial: Crown shares texts extracted from Sandeson’s phone

William Sandeson’s murder trial has been told that the accused had no formal connection to the Hells Angels.

The admission of fact — signed by the two Crown lawyers Carla Ball and Kim McOnie, as well as Sandeson’s defence lawyer Alison Craig — comes following Justin Blades’ testimony.

Blades told the trial Monday that he failed to initially tell police about the bloody body he saw slouched over in a chair in Sandeson’s apartment on Aug. 15, 2015 for fear of retaliation because he believed Sandeson was affiliated with the Hells Angels, an outlaw motorcycle group.

“There is no evidence that Mr. Sandeson was in fact affiliated with the Hells Angels, rather Mr. Blades had the state of mind that he was,” said the agreed statement of fact, read by Justice James Chipman to the jury at the start of Tuesday’s proceedings.

The lone witness to testify Tuesday at the William Sandeson murder trial was Gilles Marchand, a digital forensic analyst with the RCMP who extracted data from three cellphones in connection with the case. Two of them were linked to Sandeson, while the other is linked to his former girlfriend.

Sandeson is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Taylor Samson in August 2015.

The Crown read a series of text exchanges — between Sandeson’s phone and various contacts — aloud for the jury, before asking Marchand to identify which texts are incoming, which are outgoing, and the timestamp on them.

Texts after the alleged murder

A series of texts were exchanged in the early morning hours of Aug. 16, 2015 between Sandeson’s phone and a contact named ‘Amanda.’

On Aug. 16, 2015 at 1:42 a.m., a text from Sandeson’s number says, “Have a little catch up tomorrow?”

He gets a response saying, “Potentially!” and that if that day didn’t work, Tuesday, Aug. 17 would.

At 4:59 a.m., Sandeson says, “Have a chance to snap?”

Three minutes later, a text from Sandeson’s number reads, “Student loan paid off and I’m squeaky clean now!”

He then makes three more asks to talk to Amanda soon.

Taylor Samson was last seen Aug. 15, before 10:30 p.m. on security footage entering Sandeson’s apartment. His body has never been found.

The Crown alleges Sandeson killed Samson during a 20-pound marijuana deal.

Two witnesses called by the Crown on Monday testified they saw a motionless man slouched over in a chair bleeding at the kitchen table in Sandeson’s apartment. They said they saw money on the floor and on the kitchen table.

Exchanges with ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’

Sandeson’s number texted someone saved in his phone as ‘Mom’ on May 3, 2015, asking, “how much money is left in the RESP?”

Several texts were sent back and forth. Sandeson eventually received a response saying she’d inquire, and that it, “sounds like you are looking for some financial assistance?”

An outgoing text extracted from Sandeson’s phone later reads, “I’m fine without it.”

Then a couple of months later, on July 17, 2015, the ‘Dad’ contact texted Sandeson to say, “Laurie got mail today. She is mad over credit line.”

The response from Sandeson’s phone was, “well she has no need to be” and that it “will be paid this September.”

An outgoing message from Sandeson’s phone, this one dated Aug. 17, 2015, says, “Just approved for student grant of 7000!”

Cross-examination and trial outlook

During cross-examination, Marchand agreed with Sandeson’s lawyer Alison Craig that Marchand couldn’t determine who was in possession of the phones during the text exchanges.

The trial won’t sit Wednesday due to a scheduling conflict for the courtroom.

Jurors were told to return Thursday for what’s expected to only be a morning of testimony.

Justice James Chipman told the jury “we are progressing nicely” with the trial schedule.