Case of murdered Dalhousie University student to return to court next month

HALIFAX – The case of a 23-year-old Nova Scotia man charged with the murder of a fellow Dalhousie University student will be back in court next month.

William Sandeson appeared briefly in provincial court in Halifax on Tuesday when the matter was set over to Nov. 10 to set dates for a possible preliminary hearing.

Eugene Tan, Sandeson’s lawyer, said outside court that he is still determining whether to proceed straight to trial or hold a preliminary inquiry.

Tan said he has received substantial disclosure and that he expected a preliminary inquiry would take about two weeks. He said he would expect to call about 15 to 20 witnesses.

He said there were about 4,000 to 5,000 pages of disclosure so far, but that that would likely grow.

“In this type of case, I don’t think that’s out of the ordinary,” he said outside court. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that doubled within the next couple of months.”

Sandeson is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Taylor Samson, a Dalhousie physics student from Amherst, N.S. He was charged on Aug. 20, four days after Samson was reported missing in Halifax. His body has never been found.

Sandeson was denied bail last week, but Tan said he may still request a bail review in three months or go directly to trial.

A publication ban has been placed on evidence presented during the bail hearing.

A search warrant document describing some of the circumstances in the case was obtained by three media outlets before it was sealed by a judge.

They reported that the document alleges Samson was involved in a drug deal involving marijuana before his death.

Investigators subsequently searched two properties in Sandeson’s hometown of Truro, N.S., saying they discovered several items of interest.