Former Halifax medical student denies he killed fellow student for financial gain

William Sandeson told the jury he brought a handgun to the drug deal only to intimidate Taylor Samson, not to kill him

CITYnews halifax \ Canadian Press

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HALIFAX — A former medical student who claims he fatally shot a fellow student in self-defence during a drug deal in Halifax denied Tuesday he planned to kill the man and steal the marijuana he was carrying.

William Sandeson, who was also a small-time drug dealer, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the Aug. 15, 2015, death of Dalhousie University physics student Taylor Samson, whose body has yet to be found.

Under cross-examination by Crown prosecutor Carla Ball, Sandeson told the Nova Scotia Supreme Court jury he brought a handgun to the drug deal only to intimidate Samson, not to kill him.

“You planned to use that gun that night to kill,” Ball told him. Sandeson said that wasn’t true. “No. I planned to use that gun to intimidate.”

On Monday, Sandeson testified that soon after he showed Samson the gun, the victim lunged at him and the resulting struggle ended when Sandeson shot him, saying he was certain Samson would have killed him otherwise.

On Tuesday, Ball suggested Sandeson was motivated to kill because he was mired in debt and was about to spend a small fortune on tuition and books as he was days away from beginning medical school at Dalhousie.

She told the court that the cost of Sandeson’s medical degree over four years was estimated at $112,000. And she reminded the jury that the accused had $78,000 outstanding on a line of credit.

“You were in debt, big time,” she told Sandeson.

Sandeson repeatedly denied the allegation, saying he was in good financial shape because of drug debts he was owed, a student grant and the possibility that the cost of his education would be covered by the provincial government if he chose to practise in a rural community.

“I was under next to no financial pressure,” he said. “I had a large balance owing on the line of credit, but I had assets that more than balanced the line of credit.”

The accused said that aside from his drug dealing, which earned him about $8,000 a month by the summer of 2015, he also held three jobs, including part-time positions at two hospitals and at a home for the intellectually disabled.

But Ball argued that the drug trade had become increasingly important and more lucrative for Sandeson.

“You were entrenched in the drug trade,” Ball said, adding that Sandeson had already told the court he was selling drugs to a network of people, many of them Dalhousie athletes. Sandeson was also a varsity track athlete at the university.

Again, Sandeson disagreed, saying he was dealing in small amounts of drugs, including marijuana, magic mushrooms and MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy.

Citing texts between Sandeson and Samson on the day before they met on Aug. 15, 2015, Ball suggested that the accused kept delaying their meeting at Sandeson’s apartment on Henry Street.

“You planned to get him alone in your apartment as late as you could,” Ball said.

Sandeson challenged that assertion, saying he needed more time to think about how he was going to confront Samson about his role in a recent home invasion involving a drug dealer who owed Sandeson money.

“I was buying more time for myself to decide whether I would meet with him,” he told the court.

When asked about growing up on a farm in the Truro, N.S., area, Sandeson said his childhood was “idyllic” because it included looking after animals, driving tractors and regularly taking part in organized sports. And Ball suggested that as a student at Dalhousie, Sandeson was effectively living a double life.

“You do have another side to you, don’t you agree?” she asked Sandeson.

Sandeson replied: “I sold drugs.”

Ball went on to tell the jury that Sandeson used a separate email account and texting programs to communicate with clients seeking drugs, and she said he used coded language to arrange deals.

Sandeson disagreed about the use of code words, saying, “I’d call it more of a vernacular than a code,” adding that anyone with a limited knowledge of the drug trade would know what he was talking about.

As well, Ball drew attention to the fact that Sandeson had legally purchased a semi-automatic 9-mm handgun in June 2015, two months before the killing.

“You had two sides to your life — a perfect cover for criminal activity,” Ball said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2023.

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misidentifies Samson as Sandeson.