Erin Patterson, 51, who is serving a life sentence for murdering three of her relatives with death cap mushrooms, has returned to court to appeal her convictions.
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who → serve → convictions
She was convicted of murdering her estranged husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson and attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived after becoming seriously ill.
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who → convict → husband
Patterson’s lawyer today argued that the jury sequestration was fundamentally flawed because jurors were housed in the same hotel as the police, media and others connected to the trial.
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jurors → argue → trial
Richard Edney argued in court that even if the jury did not actually interact with anyone involved, they had the opportunity to encounter people from one side of the case.
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they → argue → case
He called the court’s failure to prevent this an “inexplicable” and “catastrophic” error in such a high-profile trial.
However, the prosecution has rejected the defence team’s argument.
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prosecution → call → argument
Director of public prosecutions Brendan Kissane, KC, said there was “no substance” to the defence claim.
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Kissane → say → claim
The case centres on a July 2023 lunch at Patterson’s home at Leongatha in Victoria, where she served beef Wellington containing poisonous death-cap mushrooms.
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she → centre → mushrooms
We are pausing the live coverage of the Erin Patterson appeal hearing for today.
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We → pause → today
We’ll resume tomorrow.
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We → resume → ?
Defence and prosecution argue over jury sequestration
Erin Patterson’s defence argued today that the jury’s hotel arrangements created a serious risk to the fairness of Patterson’s trial, describing the shared accommodation with police and prosecutors as a “fundamental irregularity” and “catastrophic”.
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arrangements → argue → irregularity
However, the defence team accepted that there was no evidence jurors actually spoke to prosecutors or police.
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jurors → accept → prosecutors
The Crown prosecution rejected that.
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prosecution → reject → that
Director of public prosecutions Brendan Kissane KC said there was “no substance” to the complaint and called the suggestion of a “catastrophic” failure unsupported.
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KC → say → failure
“There is actually no substance to it,” Kissane said.
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Kissane → be → it
Kissane said the evidence showed there was “no social contact between any juror and any other person”.
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evidence → say → juror
He said the jurors stayed on a separate floor and used a separate dining room, while jury keepers were responsible for preventing any improper communication with them.
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keepers → say → them
In Pictures: Lawyers and mushroom lunch sole survivor attend court
What happened at today’s appeal hearing
The defence said excluding photos and videos of mushrooms compromised Erin Patterson’s right to silence by forcing her to testify about her previous foraging.
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excluding → attend → foraging
Richard Edney argued Patterson was questioned repetitively and unfairly, potentially diverting jurors from the prosecution’s burden of proof.
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Patterson → argue → proof
The defence raised 35 complaints about prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC’s closing submissions.
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defence → raise → submissions
Edney said the appeal court could still intervene despite no application to discharge the jury at trial, citing the Greg Lynn case.
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court → say → case
The defence challenged Facebook evidence and accused prosecutors of introducing a motive involving a child-support dispute that had not been properly put to the jury, calling it a “trial by ambush”.
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that → challenge → ambush
Director of public prosecutions Brendan Kissane KC rejected claims that jurors staying at the same hotel as prosecutors and police was a fundamental irregularity, saying there was no evidence of improper contact.
Jeremy McWilliams defended the evidence, saying it helped establish Patterson had an opportunity to source death-cap mushrooms before the fatal lunch.
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Patterson → reject → lunch
The hearing wrapped at 4.14pm local time.
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hearing → wrap → time
The Crown will continue its response tomorrow.
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Crown → continue → response
That’s it for the day
That’s a wrap for today’s appeal hearing.
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That → ’ → hearing
The Crown has begun responding to Erin Patterson’s grounds of appeal, with prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams today defending the use of cell tower and iNaturalist evidence at her trial.
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McWilliams → begin → trial
The hearing will resume tomorrow before Justices Leslie Taylor, Stephen McLeish and Peter Kidd, with the Crown continuing its response to the defence arguments.
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Crown → resume → arguments
Prosecutor defends phone tower and iNaturalist evidence in Patterson appeal
Crown prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams is addressing Erin Patterson’s second ground of appeal, which challenges the admission of mobile phone tower data and death cap mushroom sightings published on the citizen science platform iNaturalist during her trial.
McWilliams argued that the evidence should be considered alongside other material presented to the jury, saying it helped establish that Patterson had an opportunity to obtain death cap mushrooms before the fatal lunch.
McWilliams also went through some of this evidence in detail as he argued it was used appropriately in Patterson’s trial.
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it → defend → trial
“No such argument was made in relation to the iNaturalist evidence in the trial,” McWilliams said.
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McWilliams → make → trial
“The response is that this evidence was part of a collection of evidence which, taken together, demonstrated that the applicant had opportunity to deliberately source death cap mushrooms at a time close to the lunch, and on the prosecution case, did so.”
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applicant → take → case
Director of public prosecutions says ‘no substance’ to defence complaint about shared hotel
The prosecution has rejected Erin Patterson’s defence team’s argument that housing jurors in the same hotel as police and prosecutors compromised her trial.
Director of public prosecutions Brendan Kissane, KC, said there was “no substance” to the defence claim and no evidence that any juror had social contact with police, prosecutors or other people connected to the case.
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juror → say → case
“There is actually no substance to it,” Kissane said.
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Kissane → be → it
Kissane said the evidence showed there was “no social contact between any juror and any other person”.
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evidence → say → juror
He said the jurors stayed on a separate floor and used a separate dining room, while jury keepers were responsible for preventing any improper communication with them.
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keepers → say → them
Sole survivor of fatal mushroom lunch attends Patterson’s appeal in court
Ian Wilkinson, the sole survivor of the mushroom lunch, attended the Supreme Court hearing with members of his family as Erin Patterson’s appeal against her murder convictions began.
Patterson appeared via a video link from prison.
Wilkinson said he had forgiven Patterson for trying to kill him, but could not forgive her for the deaths of his wife Heather, Gail and Don Patterson.
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he → attend → wife
At Patterson’s sentencing hearing, Wilkinson said he wanted justice for the three people who died.
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who → say → people
“I make an offer of forgiveness to Erin.
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I → make → Erin
“In regards to the murders of Heather and Gail and Don, I am compelled to seek justice.
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I → compel → justice
“Now I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim, and she has become the victim of my kindness.”
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she → become → kindness
Defence accuses prosecution of changing case: ‘Trial by ambush is not permitted’
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Trial → accuse → ambush
…and 8 more, not listed.
