A jury has found William Sandeson guilty of second-degree murder in the 2015 shooting death of Dalhousie University student Taylor Samson.
The 12 jurors began their deliberations Thursday afternoon and reached a verdict on Saturday afternoon.
The second degree murder conviction comes with an automatic life sentence.
The lead juror first announced that Sandeson had been found not guilty of first-degree murder before declaring him guilty of the lesser charge before the hushed courtroom, as Samson’s family members sat listening quietly.
Justice James Chipman said it’s his job to determine the period of parole ineligibility, which ranges from 10-25 years.
Nine of the jurors recommended to the judge that Sandeson not be eligible for parole for 25 years.
The date for sentencing has been set for April 20 and April 21.
“We wanted first (degree) murder, but we’re going to take what we can get,” Samson’s mother Linda Boutilier told reporters. “He (Sandeson) is evil. There’s a special place in hell for him.”
Sandeson, 30, was accused of murdering 22-year-old Samson during a cannabis deal the evening of Aug. 15, 2015.
Sandeson has already been in jail for about seven-and-a-half years, which will reduce the length of time he has to serve before parole eligibility, said Crown prosecutor Kim McOnie.
The Crown had argued that Sandeson, who was 23 at the time and about to begin studying medicine at Dalhousie University, was buried in debt and planned to kill Samson that night to steal the 20 pounds of cannabis he had previously arranged to buy for $40,000.
During the trial, McOnie said Sandeson had planned to sell the stolen marijuana to help clear a $78,000 debt just as he was starting medical school at Dalhousie.
The Crown lawyer said proof of Sandeson’s get-rich-quick scheme lay in a text he sent to his father a few months before the killing, saying the outstanding debt would be paid off by September. McOnie also pointed to other texts he sent soon after the shooting, including one to a friend that declared: “Student loan paid off. I’m squeaky clean now.”
McOnie also told the jury Sandeson had purchased cleaning products in anticipation of destroying evidence of a bloody crime scene.
“How many 22-year-old students do you know have seven litres of bleach in their apartment?” she asked, adding the evidence showed Sandeson had cleaned the entire apartment within two hours of the killing.
The defence argued that while Sandeson did shoot and kill Samson, it was done in self-defence during a struggle over a gun.
He said he brought his 9-mm semi-automatic handgun to the drug deal to intimidate Samson, not to kill him.
“I pulled the trigger, but I never wanted to hurt anyone that night,” he told the jury.
He testified that he feared for his life when Samson lunged at him during an argument over payment.
Sandeson admitted to disposing of the body by dumping it in a tidal river that feeds the Bay of Fundy near Truro, N.S. He denied the Crown’s allegation that he dismembered the corpse to make it easier to handle. He said he panicked after the shooting, knowing he would face criminal charges for the death and the drug dealing.
His lawyer, Alison Craig, said her client knew his dream of becoming a doctor would be over if he called 911. “Drug dealers don’t become doctors,” she said.
Craig challenged the Crown’s assertion that Sandeson was motivated by greed and financial gain, arguing her client was financially well off. She said he had three part-time jobs, and his own drug-dealing business was pulling in about $8,000 a month.
“He had everything to look forward to in life,” Craig said. “He did not have the intent for murder.”
The jury did not hear a police interview with Sandeson in which he offered several different accounts of what happened to Samson, none of which involved a shooting in self-defence. In his final account, Sandeson told investigators three unidentified assailants in black bodysuits entered the apartment, shot Samson in the head and carried his body away.
Justice James Chipman ruled the evidence inadmissible on the grounds that Sandeson’s Charter rights had not been respected.
This was Sandeson’s second trial. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2017, but the conviction was overturned in June 2020 after the Court of Appeal found that a mistrial should have been granted.
— with files from Callum Smith & The Canadian Press