An American woman, jailed for life in Hong Kong for drugging her husband with a sedative-laced milkshake before bludgeoning him to death 14 years ago, is making another attempt to appeal her sentence, it was reported today.
Nancy Kissel, dubbed the “milkshake murderer” over the high-profile killing in 2003, returned to court on Friday to challenge her sentence via judicial review, according to the SCMP.
The 53-year-old was found guilty in 2005 of murdering her husband, Robert Kissel, a Merrill Lynch investment banker, who she incapacitated with a spiked milkshake then beat to death with a lead ornament at their luxury flat in Tai Tam.
The unanimous verdict was quashed in 2010, prompting a retrial the following year.
In the second trial, Kissel dropped her previous strategy, a claim of self defense, and instead argued for diminished responsibility and claimed provocation. The jury again found her guilty. Her final appeal failed in 2014.
According to RTHK, the former housewife is now challenging a decision by the Long-Term Prison Sentences Review Board.
Kissel is arguing the board had deprived her of the right to make an informed submission to challenge the rationality of its decision.
Explaining the challenge, Kissel’s lawyer told RTHK that the board should have recommended to the chief executive that she has served enough time, and her indefinite life sentence should be replaced by a determinate prison term.
