Life sentence for 'milkshake killer'
Source: Agencies |
March 26, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A HONG Kong jury yesterday unanimously found an American woman guilty of murdering her investment banker husband in 2003. This ended the lengthy retrial of a case that riveted the public with tales of rough sex, marital violence and adultery.
Nancy Kissel, who appeared in a wheelchair during nearly 10 weeks of proceedings at Hong Kong's High Court, had in 2005 been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of senior Merrill Lynch investment banker Robert Kissel by giving him a milkshake spiked with sedatives and then clubbing him to death with a metal statuette.
But in the retrial, she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, with the defense arguing that she suffers from depression and had been provoked into the crime after years of sexual and physical abuse by her husband.
After the verdict from the jury of seven women and two men was read out, Kissel rocked backwards and forwards slowly as her family broke down in tears.
Justice Andrew Macrae described the retrial as a "difficult and very serious one" while saying that his "hands were tied" in upholding Kissel's life sentence in accordance with Hong Kong punishment for murder, despite mitigating arguments put forward by Kissel's lawyers.
"I don't wish to say anything to add to your anguish," Macrae said simply to Kissel.
Speaking outside the court building to reporters, Kissel's elderly mother, Jean McGlothlin, said she was "shocked by the outcome," while expressing concern at the frail physical condition of her daughter.
Kissel's stepfather, Michael McGlothlin, said there were grounds for an appeal.
Prosecutors said Kissel gave her husband a milkshake laced with a "cocktail of drugs" before cracking his skull with a statuette. They said Robert had planned to divorce Nancy and wanted custody of their children after discovering she had an affair.
After the killing, she left the corpse in the bedroom for several days before rolling it up in the living room carpet and having it carried into a storeroom at the couple's luxury apartment complex on Hong Kong island.
Last February, judges quashed Kissel's conviction and ordered a retrial, saying the case had been flawed.
Nancy Kissel, who appeared in a wheelchair during nearly 10 weeks of proceedings at Hong Kong's High Court, had in 2005 been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of senior Merrill Lynch investment banker Robert Kissel by giving him a milkshake spiked with sedatives and then clubbing him to death with a metal statuette.
But in the retrial, she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, with the defense arguing that she suffers from depression and had been provoked into the crime after years of sexual and physical abuse by her husband.
After the verdict from the jury of seven women and two men was read out, Kissel rocked backwards and forwards slowly as her family broke down in tears.
Justice Andrew Macrae described the retrial as a "difficult and very serious one" while saying that his "hands were tied" in upholding Kissel's life sentence in accordance with Hong Kong punishment for murder, despite mitigating arguments put forward by Kissel's lawyers.
"I don't wish to say anything to add to your anguish," Macrae said simply to Kissel.
Speaking outside the court building to reporters, Kissel's elderly mother, Jean McGlothlin, said she was "shocked by the outcome," while expressing concern at the frail physical condition of her daughter.
Kissel's stepfather, Michael McGlothlin, said there were grounds for an appeal.
Prosecutors said Kissel gave her husband a milkshake laced with a "cocktail of drugs" before cracking his skull with a statuette. They said Robert had planned to divorce Nancy and wanted custody of their children after discovering she had an affair.
After the killing, she left the corpse in the bedroom for several days before rolling it up in the living room carpet and having it carried into a storeroom at the couple's luxury apartment complex on Hong Kong island.
Last February, judges quashed Kissel's conviction and ordered a retrial, saying the case had been flawed.
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