Erin Patterson, the Australian woman convicted in a mushroom poisoning case that drew global attention, will begin her appeal against three murder convictions on Wednesday.
The 51-year-old was convicted last year of killing her former husband’s parents and an elderly aunt after serving them a beef Wellington containing deadly death cap mushrooms in 2023.
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She was also found guilty of attempting to murder her former husband’s uncle, a local pastor who survived the meal after spending weeks in hospital.
A judge sentenced Patterson to life in prison, with parole eligibility set after 33 years.
Erin Patterson leaves the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne after being sentenced
Patterson has applied to follow the appeal proceedings by live video link from the maximum-security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, where she is imprisoned in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Her lawyers argue that the trial involved several instances of a “substantial miscarriage of justice”, claiming the judge made errors in determining which evidence the jury could hear.
Evidence involving Facebook messages, cell tower data and reports of death cap mushroom sightings was admitted despite being irrelevant or unfairly prejudicial to Patterson, her lawyer argued.
He also said evidence concerning images of mushrooms found on a memory card at Patterson’s home was wrongly excluded, according to an appeal submission filed in November last year.
The lawyer further claimed a “fundamental irregularity” occurred while the jury was sequestered, an event he said “fatally undermined the integrity of the verdicts”, although he provided no details.
Police say ‘important’ to remember victims as Patterson sentenced
Patterson’s solicitor has also alleged that prosecutors subjected her to an “unfair and oppressive” cross-examination during the trial.
Before examining the appeal arguments in full, the Court of Appeal must first determine whether Patterson has grounds to receive permission to challenge her convictions.
The prosecution, meanwhile, has lodged its own appeal against the sentence, arguing that the judge’s 33-year non-parole period was “manifestly inadequate”.
Prosecutors contend the judge was wrong to conclude there was a significant likelihood Patterson would spend years in solitary confinement, and argue that the finding “infected” his sentencing decision.
A 12-member jury convicted Patterson in July last year of murdering her former husband Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, along with his aunt, Heather Wilkinson, at her home in the Victorian farming village of Leongatha.
The jury also convicted her of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian, a pastor who became critically ill after the lunch but ultimately recovered.
