'Milkshake murderer' loses appeal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7653942.stm

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A US woman in Hong Kong has lost an appeal against her conviction for the brutal murder of her husband in 2003.

A three-judge panel ruled there was "no merit" in any of the grounds of the appeal by 44-year-old Nancy Kissel.

But the Court of Appeal judgement does allow Mrs Kissel to try again at Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal.

Mrs Kissel was jailed for life in 2005 for murdering her banker husband Robert by lacing a milkshake with sedatives and bludgeoning him with an ornament.

In a sensational trial in 2005, the court heard tales of high living, adultery, cocaine abuse, violent arguments, wealth, greed and unhappiness.

The murder was discovered due to the stench from the rolled up carpet in a storage room at the luxury Parkview apartments complex on Hong Kong island.

Mrs Kissel had apparently asked maintenance men to come and take it away.

'Very disappointed'

Revelations in court three years ago about the lifestyle of some members of the territory's wealthy expatriate elite gripped the public imagination for weeks.

Mrs Kissel's appeal was based on her claim that she acted in self defence as her husband was threatening her with a baseball bat. Her lawyers had argued that the judge had defined the concept of self-defence too narrowly.

Prosecutors had argued that she had planned the murder due to her uncontrolled passion for a new lover, a TV repairman in the US, deliberately creating an atmosphere of violence in the home.

Defence attorney Simon Clarke said he was "very disappointed" with Monday's verdict but added he expected "a better hearing at the Court of Final Appeal."