‘Internet black widow’ delays signing of peace bond because of medical question

HALIFAX — Lawyers agreed today to a two-week delay before an 80-year-old woman who killed and poisoned her intimate partners will sign a two-year peace bond.

Melissa Ann Shepard’s lawyer Mark Knox appeared briefly at provincial court in Dartmouth, N.S., today to arrange for her to come back to court on Nov. 15.

Crown attorney James Giacomantonio said outside court that Shepard is still expected to sign the peace bond, but he has to review some medical documents that involve how and when she contacts police. 

Shepard — also known as the “Internet black widow” — is challenging conditions imposed on her when she was released from prison in March after serving a full sentence of just under three years for spiking newlywed husband Fred Weeks’s coffee with tranquilizers in 2012.