Judge Orders Bitcoin Wallet Returned to Canadian Killer’s Family

TL;DR

• A Nova Scotia judge ordered a laptop holding William Sandeson’s Bitcoin wallet returned after prosecutors failed to link it directly to Taylor Samson’s murder.
• The wallet’s value remains disputed, ranging from C$8,000 to over C$200,000, while the court did not determine its exact Bitcoin balance.
• The judge separately ruled C$5,000 in cash seized from Sandeson’s apartment was offence-related property and will not be returned.

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge ordered a laptop containing a Bitcoin wallet returned to the family of convicted murderer William Sandeson after prosecutors failed to prove the cryptocurrency was tied to the 2015 killing of Taylor Samson. In the source report, Justice John Bodurtha found no proven connection between the Bitcoin and the drug transaction. The ruling separates the digital asset from property shown to be offence-related, adding questions around Bitcoin.

Court Finds No Proven Criminal Link to Bitcoin

Sandeson filed a motion in April seeking property seized after his 2015 arrest and apartment search. The laptop held a Bitcoin wallet of disputed value. Sandeson said the cryptocurrency was worth between C$8,000 and C$10,000, while a lawyer for Samson’s family said it could exceed C$200,000. The court did not determine the wallet’s exact value or Bitcoin balance, keeping the dispute centered on evidentiary connection and echoing legal disputes over seized Bitcoin.

Bodurtha concluded that any potential use of the Bitcoin in the cannabis transaction was hypothetical and that prosecutors had not shown actual dealing with the cryptocurrency in connection with the murder. He therefore ordered the laptop returned to Sandeson’s family. The decision turned on the Crown’s failure to prove that the Bitcoin was proceeds of crime or otherwise tainted by criminality, highlighting the difference between possession and proving an offence link in crypto seizure cases.

The judge reached a different conclusion regarding C$5,000 in cash found in Sandeson’s apartment, ruling it offence-related property that would not be returned. Sandeson is serving a life sentence in Quebec for Samson’s second-degree murder after being convicted again in 2023 following an earlier conviction overturned on appeal. The property order does not alter Sandeson’s conviction or sentence, separating the wallet dispute from the homicide case and questions about control of cryptocurrency assets.

The Bitcoin also entered a separate wrongful death lawsuit involving Samson’s family. The latest ruling addresses the Crown’s basis for retaining the laptop in the criminal matter rather than resolving every civil claim involving the cryptocurrency. Returning the laptop does not by itself settle all legal questions surrounding the Bitcoin, because ownership, access and civil claims can follow standards different from criminal forfeiture, a distinction relevant to cases involving wallet control and private keys under Canadian criminal property law today.