Judge orders Bitcoin laptop returned to killer William Sandeson

On Tuesday, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice John Bodurtha ordered a laptop holding William Sandeson’s Bitcoin wallet returned to Sandeson’s family. Bodurtha found prosecutors did not prove the Bitcoin was linked to Sandeson’s 2015 murder of Taylor Samson; Sandeson is serving a life sentence in a Quebec prison and took part in the hearing by video. The judge allowed the laptop to be returned but not $5,000 in cash found hidden in a garbage can at Sandeson’s apartment, ruling it offence-related property. The return had been blocked by a temporary order in December 2022 amid a wrongful-death lawsuit by Samson’s mother, Linda Boutilier, and brother, Connor Samson, whose lawyer argued the Bitcoin could pay damages; its value is disputed.