Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice John Bodurtha ordered a laptop containing William Sandeson’s bitcoin wallet returned to his family on Nov. 3. Prosecutors had not proved the bitcoin was used in a drug transaction, was criminal proceeds or was otherwise connected to criminal activity. The judge withheld C$5,000 in cash as offense-related property.
Sandeson is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. The victim’s family had separately sought to keep the bitcoin available in case they won damages in a wrongful death lawsuit; that civil claim was distinct from the prosecutors’ bid to retain it as crime-related property.
