Nancy Kissel Murder Conviction Overturned
Posted by: David Ring
February 19, 2010
Topic: High Profile Cases
In what had to be the equivalent of a "hail mary" pass that was caught in the end zone for the winning score, convicted murderer Nancy Kissel convinced a Hong Kong appellate court to give her a new trial in the high profile case in which she was accused of killing her husband while they lived in Hong Kong with other wealthy American expatriates.
The case was the subject of a great book by Joe McGinniss a few years back. Nancy was portrayed as a materialistic, selfish wife who moved to Hong Kong with her husband, Robert Kissel, a successful investment banker. They lived the high-life in Hong Kong, along with other Americans who worked for U.S.-based financial institutions there. But Nancy soon started an affair with an average Joe when she went back to the U.S. to visit. She then plotted her husband's death in Hong Kong, eventually using a drug-laced milkshake to render him unconscious so she could then beat him over the head with a heavy object. She then rolled him up in a carpet and left him in her apartment, where he was soon discovered.
She was convicted in Hong Kong's trial court and sentenced to life in prison. She appealed - and recently won. The Hong Kong appellate court found errors with the introduction of certain evidence that was used against her at trial. What's this mean? It means another high-profile re-play of the murder trial again. And maybe Joe McGinniss will have to re-write the ending of the book at some point down the road.
