A Nova Scotia judge has ordered the return of a laptop containing the Bitcoin wallet of convicted killer William Sandeson, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove the cryptocurrency was connected to the 2015 murder of Taylor Samson.

Justice John Bodurtha issued the decision Tuesday in Halifax Supreme Court. Sandeson, who is serving a life sentence in a Quebec prison, participated in the hearing by video.

The Crown was required to establish a link between the Bitcoin and the crime, but Bodurtha said it had not done so. The judge described the theory that Sandeson intended to use the Bitcoin in the drug deal as “hypothetical.” He found no evidence that Sandeson planned to use the cryptocurrency, or that he used it in connection with Samson’s murder. The decision highlights the evidentiary threshold in crypto-seizure disputes: digital assets taken by police are not automatically treated as crime proceeds, and when prosecutors cannot prove the connection, courts can order the property returned — even to a convicted offender.

The laptop holding the wallet will be returned to Sandeson’s family. The ruling carries practical significance because Bitcoin wallets store the private keys required to move funds, making custody of the device that holds the wallet central to controlling the coins. However, the $5,000 in cash seized from his apartment will remain in government custody. Bodurtha ruled that the cash was “offence-related property.” Police found it hidden at the bottom of a garbage can.

At trial, Sandeson testified that he used a $200,000 line of credit to purchase drugs. His mother had co-signed the credit line, which was intended to cover university expenses. The account still had an $80,000 balance when Sandeson was arrested.

The value of the Bitcoin wallet remains disputed. Sandeson has said it is worth between $8,000 and $10,000, while a lawyer for Samson’s family has said it could be worth more than $200,000 today. Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at about $78,563 on CoinMarketCap at the time of writing.

In a 2024 ruling, Justice Cindy Bourgeois of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found that Sandeson had approximately $640,000 in Bitcoin and cash when he was jailed. That decision denied him publicly funded legal assistance for his appeal.

How Sandeson was imprisoned

In August 2015, Sandeson and Samson were students at Dalhousie University. Sandeson was days away from beginning medical school when he arranged a meeting at his Halifax apartment for what was supposed to be a cannabis transaction involving more than 18 kilograms.

According to the case, Sandeson shot Samson, kept the drugs and money, and disposed of the body in the Bay of Fundy. Samson’s remains have never been found.

Sandeson was initially convicted of first-degree murder, but an appeal overturned that verdict. At a 2023 retrial, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder. He admitted to shooting Samson but said he acted in self-defense.

Samson’s family has sought to prevent the laptop from being returned. In December 2022, a court issued a temporary order blocking its release. Samson’s mother, Linda Boutilier, and his brother, Connor Samson, had filed a wrongful-death lawsuit. Their lawyer, James Goodwin, argued that the Bitcoin could be used to pay damages if they prevailed.

Sandeson renewed the dispute in April by filing a motion seeking the return of his seized property. The Crown then applied to retain the cash and laptop, arguing that both were tainted by crime. Boutilier has attended every court appearance in the case and was present for Tuesday’s ruling, but declined to comment. Tuesday’s decision resolves the property question, but it does not touch the wrongful-death lawsuit, where the Bitcoin’s potential to fund damages remains at stake.

Courts in the United Kingdom and the United States are also dealing with disputes over cryptocurrency linked to criminal cases. Those matters include more than 61,000 BTC tied to Qian Zhimin in the UK and an unsuccessful claim by an American prisoner involving $345 million in lost Bitcoin.

Source: Cryptopolitan