WARNING: This story contains graphic details.
William Sandeson has ended his testimony in his first degree murder trial after four days on the witness stand punctuated by clashes with the Crown.
While Sandeson has pleaded not guilty to the charges, he has admitted to shooting and killing Taylor Samson when the two men met to make a drug deal on the evening of August 15, 2015.
But Sandeson said he fired in self-defense after Samson became aggressive and lunged at him.
The Crown put forward a very different theory during their cross-examination, accusing Sandeson of luring Samson to his apartment in order to kill him. The Crown pointed out that Sandeson didn’t have $40,000 on hand, which was the price the two men agreed on to buy nine kilograms of marijuana.
Sandeson told the court that he dragged Samson’s body down the hall and put it in the bathtub while he cleaned the apartment.
At one point during Wednesday’s questioning, Crown Prosecutor Carla Ball yelled at Sandeson and asked if he had considered having “someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s friend, dead in his bathtub.”
When court resumed Thursday morning, the judge warned the jury about the crown eruption. Judge James Chipman told the jury they must remain dispassionate and not be swayed by heart-tugging arguments.
Jury sent home by Monday
Sandeson denied the Crown’s claim that he dismembered Samson’s body before carrying it from his flat in a duffel bag.
The Crown used a tape measure to illustrate the dimensions of the bag and asked how the body of a man who was six feet four inches tall and weighed 230 pounds could be made to fit inside.
The Crown also let Sandeson see a set of evidence photos police took of him immediately after his arrest in 2015. The Crown said the only visible sign of the injury was a bruise on one shoulder, which Sandeson said was caused by the strap on the duffel bag he was carrying Samson’s body from the flat.
After Sandeson’s time on the witness stand, the jury was sent home until Monday morning.
There’s no word on whether the defense plans to take more evidence or whether the Crown may take rebuttal evidence. Even if they do, the process appears to be entering its final days.
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