Those of you that have been here for a while would remember an interesting murder case involving expats and milkshakes in Hong Kong. Nancy Kissel was accused of bludgeoning her investment banker husband to death in 2003 after giving him a cocktail of drugs. She claimed to have killed him in self-defense, testifying that she suffered years of abusive sex and he was a coke addict. Unfortunately for her that didn’t cut it: she was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison

Last week, Hong Kong’s top court overturned her 2005 conviction for killing her husband, ruling that hearsay evidence on her intent to kill and cross-examination on bail material made her original trial unfair. Erm.. WTF? In her first appeal, which she lost, the court called it as cogent a case of murder as might be imagined. Court statements don’t get any bolder than this. Yet apparently, very obvious mistakes have been made.

It’s worthwhile to note that in Hong Kong, roughly 75% of not-guilty pleas end in a conviction. In England for example, that figure is less than 8%. This has made one prominent HK lawyer, Clive Grossman, compare Hong Kong’s rate of conviction to North Korea’s: “An arrested person is, statistically, almost certain to face imprisonment.”

Even though Nancy admitted killing her husband, the fact that she appears to have gotten an unfair trial is a serious blow to our judiciary system’s reputation. On the other hand, we are part of China of course. Luckily we can find comfort in the fact that other places in Asia are even more messed up. For those holding a grudge against bankers too, here’s a more innocent way to relieve the frustration.