Nova Scotia·NewWilliam Sandeson appeared by video from a Quebec prison before a three-member panel of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal on Friday, arguing that his conviction for second-degree murder was wrong and the charge should either be stayed, or his sentence reduced.Sandeson was convicted of 2nd-degree murder in February 2023Blair Rhodes · CBC News · Posted: Oct 10, 2025 5:21 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes agoWilliam Sandeson, seen here in 2023, argued before a panel of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal on Friday via video from a Quebec prison. (Blair Rhodes/CBC)Ten years after Taylor Samson was murdered in an apartment in south-end Halifax, the case against his killer is still dragging through the courts.On Friday, William Sandeson appeared by video from a Quebec prison before a three-member panel of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. Sandeson argued his conviction for second-degree murder was wrong and the charge should either be stayed, or his sentence reduced.Sandeson was convicted of second-degree murder in February of 2023. It was his second conviction. An earlier one for first-degree murder was overturned on appeal.He was ordered to serve a minimum of 7.5 more years in prison before being eligible for parole. Evidence from the two trials showed that Sandeson and Samson met at Sandeson’s apartment for a drug deal. Sandeson had agreed to buy nine kilograms of marijuana for $40,000, but he instead shot Samson. His body has never been found.Sandeson, who has taken legal courses while in prison, argued his own case Friday after he was denied funding for legal aid.Detective’s behaviour at centre of argumentMuch of his arguments focused on the behaviour of a private detective that his legal team had hired to interview witnesses. That detective, Bruce Webb, discovered that two men who were across the hall from Sandeson’s apartment the night Samson was killed had changed their stories. The men had initially told police they didn’t see or hear anything.Webb took that information to police, who promptly interviewed the two men again. Their evidence, about hearing a gunshot and then witnessing a man slumped over at the kitchen table in Sandeson’s apartment, was a dramatic moment in both murder trials.But Sandeson argued Friday the way police learned of that evidence, and the fact they didn’t immediately alert Sandeson’s legal team, was wrong.”Given the odious nature of the police, defence collaboration itself, the concealment thereof is all the more offensive to society’s notion of fair play and decency,” Sandeson said in court.“While this was, as the respondent phrased it, a case of late disclosure, not of no disclosure, that statement fails to capture the fact that the entire collaboration between Mr. Webb and the state very nearly remained a secret.”No ‘conspiracy to convict,’ says CrownCrown lawyer Timothy O’Leary agreed that police and the prosecutors in the first murder trial mishandled the disclosure of evidence. But O’Leary said the mistakes should not lead to a stay of proceedings or a reduction in Sandeson’s sentence.”This was not some malicious, vexatious conspiracy to convict the appellant,” said O’Leary. “You can see a stay of proceedings being warranted if police had somehow gone to Bruce Webb compromised, coerced him, strong-armed him, whatever adjective you want, but they didn’t.” The Crown said it would amount to a “windfall” for Sandeson if the Appeal Court rules in his favour.The court reserved its decision.MORE TOP STORIES ABOUT THE AUTHORBlair Rhodes has been a journalist for more than 40 years, the last 31 with CBC. His primary focus is on stories of crime and public safety. He can be reached at blair.rhodes@cbc.ca
William Sandeson appeals murder conviction, sentence in killing of Taylor Samson
