Nancy Kissel, 'Milkshake Murderer,' Wants Appeal To Overturn Hong Kong Conviction

An American woman twice convicted in Hong Kong of killing her investment-banker husband is now seeking an appeal, MSNBC reported.

Nancy Kissel, 48, was handed a life sentence last March after a jury found her guilty of drugging Robert Kissel with a sedative-laced strawberry milkshake and bludgeoning him to death with a lead ornament.

During the trial -- which newspapers dubbed the "Milkshake Murder" -- Kissel denied the charge of murder, but pled guilty to a charge of manslaughter for causing her husband's death.

Legal counsel for Kissel originally said she was not going to appeal the conviction and hoped to serve her sentence in the U.S., but a court official told the AFP on Friday that the mother of three filed an application to appeal.

With the 28-day deadline to file for appeal already passed, the native of Adrian, Mich., must be given court permission to try to overturn the conviction.

"No date has been set for the hearing," a court spokesperson told the AFP.

Kissel was first convicted and sentenced in 2005, but Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal cited legal errors and threw out the conviction in February 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported. A retrial began in January 2011 and ended two months later.

Kissel testified that her husband physically and sexually abused her and that she acted in self-defense when she killed him in 2003.

Police discovered the body of Robert Kissel, wrapped in a carpet in a storeroom near his home, on Nov. 6, 2003, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Prosecutors pointed out that Kissel may have had financial motivation for killing her husband, who was an executive for investment bank Merrill Lynch. They argued she could have made $18 million from his death and that she planned to take up with a TV repairman, with whom she admitted to having an affair in the U.S.

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Comments

[Ordos Gold]

12:56 PM on 03/03/2012

Oh its so hard to be rich and white. Does anyone else think its funny that she trys/tried to style herself look more "asian" to gain the sympathy of the jury? I say let her have an appeal, let her leave hong kong after stamping her passport NO ENTRY and go BACK HOME. Its not the job of chinese culture or hong kong to clothe, feed, educate and employ the worlds riff raff.

[summer261987]

10:07 PM on 02/28/2012

it doesn't make sense. if she really was sexually abused, she could just ran away after she drugged him. no need to kill. she can always go to authority for DV. i believed HK authority will take her seriously. sound to me like she want the $18M.... black widow??

[meganmarieborn]

11:49 PM on 02/28/2012

Well, if she really was abused, she wasn't in her right state of mind. Also, she may have been afraid that he would have come after her once he woke up.

[guy girl]

11:55 PM on 02/27/2012

Sounds like Kis and sell

[PirateGrl8]

08:38 PM on 02/27/2012

Somebody ought to give her a milkshake. Enough already...once she drugged the guy he was no threat to her...but still she bludgeoned him to death after that...that's murder. Anyone to corroborate her abuse claims? A friend, a family member? Anyone ever see bruises on her? Any hospital visits? What about a protection order? The reality was she was having an affair and she wanted him out of the way. She wanted her TV repairman lover and her dead husband's executive salary. Case closed.

[MissFish]

08:42 AM on 02/25/2012

Let's see, my spouse is abusing me - shall I stay until I snap & kill OR get a divorce ??? Their children now have to live with this!! It is not like she didn't have the means to get away from him or that she would have had a "hard" life without him, she would have gotten plenty in a divorce. Now, she will see what a hard life is. SHAME on her - if for nothing else, destroying her children's shot at a normal life. I hope the children are in a loving home now.

[mdipary2004]

08:14 PM on 02/25/2012

Miss Fish Excellent post.
Their are alot of people here defending her actions. I find the people making excuses for this womans conduct have an agenda.

[kr3kell]

11:06 AM on 02/27/2012

How abusive could he be if she was able to have an affair behind his back. Most abusers watch their spouse at all times and she seemed to have plenty of freedom and money to get out if she wished like you stated. She new the TV repairman could not make enough money so she thought about the 18 million she could get if her husband died. Greed.

[sdave]

04:43 AM on 02/25/2012

Hmm....she pleads not guilty to murder, but did cause her husband's death. She is pulling the oldest trick in the book: her gender.

[smlyttle]

01:42 AM on 02/25/2012

What ever happened to simply reporting things like this? Even if you're married rape is still rape! Now the kids don't have a dad and have to wonder if mommy still loves them or will slip them a mickey to. If she doesn't get either life in jail or the death penalty she needs to have her stay in prison be in Hong Kong. Why? Because there are very few other countries who's jail are even a third as nice as American ones and prisoners never wont to go back if they make it out. Why do you think she asked to go to an American jail?

[mdipary2004]

08:17 PM on 02/25/2012

I beleive she is using the rape and abuse as an excuse to excape acountability. She could of reported the alledge crime to police. She wanted to kill her husband. Reports have said she was having an affair.

[kr3kell]

11:08 AM on 02/27/2012

Agreed. TV repairman couldn't make what hubby did.

[bridgeman]

12:27 AM on 02/25/2012

most people would "fry" for such behavior

ha!

[crayola 08b]

10:45 PM on 02/24/2012

her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

[topkatnc]

08:44 PM on 02/24/2012

She's guilty ..

[rockysparks]

08:24 PM on 02/24/2012

She was having an affair with a TV repairman? That could explain why the husband was kinda ticked off at her ...

[LittleCheetah]

08:05 AM on 02/25/2012

FiOS or Comcast?

[rockysparks]

09:37 AM on 02/25/2012

More likely NewWave, now owned by Time Warner. NewWave's awful service alone would cause someone to kill ...

[tricked by bush]

03:38 PM on 02/26/2012

Actually, he and his brother ran a high-end sound system business. His brother later kicked him out of his life. There were many calls between Nancy Kissel and this guy. They definately had an affair when Rob Kissel was working in Hong Kong and she was at their vacation house in Vermont. She was also a rotten mother who spent her time shopping while nannies and maids looked after her children.

[rockysparks]

08:01 PM on 02/26/2012

Can we assume you know these people personally and that you can document your comments?

[thatdogguy]

05:55 PM on 02/24/2012

"Kissel testified that her husband physically and sexually abused her and that she acted in self-defense when she killed him" Ah, the old "I was abused" defense. Bet her attorney gave her the advice on that one.

[ussuri]

06:34 PM on 02/24/2012

there was a tv story on based on this case.
he was into coke and sadism. her friends said she was bruised.
many time victims kill abusers.

[Miz Fit]

05:48 AM on 02/25/2012

Saw the TV movie. If accurate, at one point she was living in the U.S. and he was abroad. If she was in fear of him, she had ample opportunity to seek out a divorce lawyer. One of times she was with her TV Repairman lover, perhaps.

[tricked by bush]

03:39 PM on 02/26/2012

And then roll them up in a rug and put them in storage, hoping to have it shipped to the US?

[mdipary2004]

04:28 PM on 02/24/2012

Spot the difference
Women committing domestic violence (shhh – but don’t tell anyone)

•Poisoning – Woman poisons her husband using anti-freeze
•Kicking – Woman kicks heel of high-heeled shoe into boyfriend’s brain
•Stabbing – Woman stabs and kills boyfriend
•Shooting – Wife shoots husband after arguments
•Another stabbing (but we’re told she didn’t commit DV, he did) – Woman stabs and kills boyfriend

[topkatnc]

08:42 PM on 02/24/2012

So women are starting to act like men ... sad , but true .

[Miz Fit]

05:48 AM on 02/25/2012

"Starting"? Where have you been?

[mdipary2004]

04:26 PM on 02/24/2012

Another male victim of domestic violence. Wonder why their is no mention of domestic violence?

[ussuri]

06:36 PM on 02/24/2012

he was a drug addict and was raping her .

[mdipary2004]

07:22 PM on 02/24/2012

Have you noticed, almost every woman who kills their husband or boyfriend uses that defence. Their is no evidence the husband did anything wrong. She did stand to recieve her bankers husbands $$$$$$$$$

[GalaxieGal]

07:58 PM on 02/24/2012

Why didn't she just divorce him then?

[topkatnc]

08:43 PM on 02/24/2012

You should read the book ... also there has been a movie on tv about the family .

[time2impeach]

03:56 PM on 02/24/2012

Open and shut case on both the first and second tries. Why would she think the third would be any different?

[Fenrir Lokison]

05:26 PM on 02/24/2012

You've got to be kidding...She's hot! I'd be her pen-pal and give her new hubby after she gets out...I'll just make sure not to have her cook for me. And not leave take out or restaurant food unattended near her. :P