Erin Patterson appeal hears jury hotel was accident

Prosecutors told a Melbourne court that a jury hotel issue in Erin Patterson's Australian death cap mushroom murder appeal was an accident, as her lawyers argued she suffered a substantial miscarriage of justice.

Patterson, 51, is seeking to overturn her convictions for murdering her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, by serving them a beef Wellington lunch laced with lethal death cap mushrooms at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, in 2023. She was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather Wilkinson's husband, Ian Wilkinson, a pastor who became gravely ill but survived after weeks in hospital.

A judge sentenced Patterson to life imprisonment, with eligibility for parole after 33 years.

Patterson's lawyer Richard Edney argued that jurors staying in the same hotel as a police witness and members of the prosecution undermined the fairness of the trial. He called it a “fundamental failure” in a high-profile case, but conceded there was no evidence that jurors had communicated with others.

Prosecutor Brendan Kissane said the hotel placement was an accident. The prosecution also defended evidence intended to show that Patterson had been able to source the deadly mushrooms before the lunch.

Another Patterson lawyer, Veronika Drago, argued that evidence allowed by the trial judge, including material relating to cell towers and posts about death cap mushroom sightings, was innocuous and unreliable. Patterson's lawyers said requiring her to answer questions based on that evidence amounted to a substantial miscarriage of justice.

Her defence also said evidence about mushroom images on a memory card in Patterson's home was wrongly excluded, and argued there had been unfair and oppressive cross-examination during the trial.

Three Court of Appeal judges are hearing Patterson's conviction appeal and a prosecution appeal seeking a stiffer sentence over Wednesday and Thursday. Prosecutors have said the 33-year non-parole period was “manifestly inadequate”, arguing that the sentencing judge wrongly found there was a substantial chance Patterson would be held in solitary confinement for years to come.

Patterson watched the proceedings by live video link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum-security prison in Melbourne's western suburbs.