Milkshake Murder Retrial Begins

The retrial of American expatriate Nancy Kissel began in Hong Kong today, with the judge ordering jurors to forget everything they knew about one of the most sensational murders in the territory's history. Kissel, accused of clubbing her banker husband to death after serving him a drugged milkshake, received a life sentence in 2005 but the guilty verdict was overturned last year, AP reports.

"You must put out of your minds anything you may have seen or heard about this case in any medium," the judge said. Kissel, who says she killed her husband in self-defense after years of physical and sexual abuse, pleaded not guilty to murder as the new trial opened. Prosecution lawyers rejected an offer to plead guilty to manslaughter. The trial is expected to last 50 days.
(More Hong Kong stories.)