Family of N.S. student murdered in drug deal deliver impact statements in court

HALIFAX -

A Nova Scotia judge heard victim impact statements Thursday during a sentencing hearing for a former Halifax medical student who murdered a 22-year-old man during a drug deal.

William Sandeson had testified during his trial before a Nova Scotia Supreme Court jury that he killed physics student Taylor Samson in self-defence on Aug. 15, 2015, and dumped his body into a river. He was found guilty of second-degree murder on Feb. 18 after jurors deliberated for 23 hours.

Those convicted of second-degree murder face an automatic life sentence, but a judge can set parole eligibility between 10 and 25 years.

The six-week trial marked the second time Sandeson was tried for the crime. He was convicted of first-degree murder in 2017, but the verdict was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered in 2020.

Samson's mother, Linda Boutilier, said in a written statement submitted to the court that after her son was killed she repeatedly walked back roads between Halifax and Truro, N.S., searching for her son's body or some clue to where he might be found.

"Most people can go to a loved one's resting place to visit," she wrote. "Taylor's resting place should not be some place hidden in the woods or out in the bottom of the ocean."

Samson's girlfriend at the time of his death, Mackenzie Ruthven, told the court she felt robbed of the chance to say goodbye to him because his body was never found.

"We don't get to laugh or cry, bring him flowers, or process our trauma in his presence," she said on the witness stand.

Sandeson has already been in jail for about seven years and eight months, which the judge and lawyers have said would reduce the length of time he has to serve before he is eligible for parole.

The Crown had argued during the trial that Sandeson was motivated by greed to kill Samson and steal the nine kilograms of marijuana he had brought to Sandeson's downtown apartment to sell. During the trial, prosecutor Kim McOnie said Sandeson had planned to sell the stolen marijuana to clear a $78,000 debt just as he was starting medical school at Dalhousie.

McOnie 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."

She 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 that the evidence showed Sandeson had cleaned the entire apartment within two hours of the killing.

Testifying in his own defence, Sandeson rejected all of those arguments. He said he brought his 9-mm semi-automatic handgun to the drug deal to intimidate Samson, not to kill him.

Sandeson admitted to disposing of the body by dumping it in a tidal river that feeds the Bay of Fundy near Truro. He denied the Crown's allegation that he dismembered the corpse to make it easier to handle.

The defence had challenged the Crown's assertion that Sandeson was motivated by greed and financial gain, arguing her client was financially well off.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.