Crown prosecution closes case in William Sandeson murder trial

The Crown prosecution in the first-degree murder trial of William Sandeson has closed its case after introducing some 40 witnesses and 116 exhibits.

The judge has given Sandeson's lawyer, Alison Craig, until Monday to decide whether she wishes to call evidence.

If she does, it could include testimony from Sandeson himself. Or, she could simply argue that the Crown has failed to prove their case and the matter could go to final arguments.

Sandeson is accused of killing Taylor Samson in August of 2015.

The Crown alleges the two men met for a drug deal in Sandeson's apartment in south-end Halifax on the evening of Aug. 15, 2015. Samson has not been seen since.

Agreed statements of facts

The Crown closed its case Thursday afternoon by introducing 16 agreed statements of fact.

These are details the lawyers have signed off on, without the requirement of bringing in evidence or argument to prove them.

The agreements have shaved days off the estimated length of the trial.

Some of the agreements were for mundane things, such as acknowledging which police officer took evidence photos and what they showed.

The lawyers also agreed that Sandeson had a firearms certificate for the handgun he owned, and that he was the registered owner of the black Mazda Protege that police seized.

DNA traces

Traces of Samson's DNA were found in the trunk of the vehicle.

One agreement had to do with research police did on tide times in the Bay of Fundy.

That agreement included the admission that police felt it unlikely that Samson's body had been dumped in the ocean.

The admissions included that Sandeson's parents, Laurie and Michael Sandeson, were the authors of text messages exchanged with their son, in which they expressed concerns about his finances.

Another admission was a letter from Dalhousie University, outlining how much it would have cost to attend medical school in 2015.

Sandeson was just days from starting med school when he was arrested and charged with murder.

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