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Supreme Court declines to hear Crown appeal of overturned N.S. murder conviction

Canada’s top court has declined to hear an appeal from the Crown regarding the overturned murder conviction in the case of a former Nova Scotia medical student.
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William Sandeson arrives at provincial court in Halifax on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Canada’s top court has declined to hear a Crown appeal of an overturned murder conviction in the case of a former Nova Scotia medical student. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Canada’s top court has declined to hear an appeal from the Crown regarding the overturned murder conviction in the case of a former Nova Scotia medical student.

William Sandeson was originally convicted in 2017 of first-degree murder in the killing of Taylor Samson.

The trial heard Sandeson shot Samson during a drug deal at the accused’s apartment on Aug. 15, 2015, and he was sentenced in July 2017 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Nova Scotia’s Court of Appeal ordered a second trial last year, saying the lower court judge had infringed on the accused’s right to a fair hearing.

The defence asked for a mistrial when they learned a private investigator they had hired had secretly told police about a key aspect of the case.

The prosecution appealed the Appeal Court’s decision, but the Supreme Court of Canada said today the Sandeson case is among 17 that it has declined to review. The court did not give a reason for its decision.