brisbane, australia —
One of Australia’s most high-profile murder cases is back in court, with a home cook who used poisonous mushrooms to kill three lunch customers facing a possible retrial or even longer prison sentence.
Erin Patterson was found guilty last year of murdering her children’s grandparents and the wife of a local pastor by intentionally mixing deathcap mushrooms into her Beef Wellington meal. She was also found guilty of attempted murder for nearly killing a pastor over the same meal.
Her 10-week trial took place in a small town in rural Victoria, where reporters and curious members of the public flocked to the scene, lining up for hours each day for public seats.
The strong interest in the case is one of the reasons her lawyers are pushing for a retrial. The town was so crowded that at one stage jurors were sharing hotels with the prosecution team and informants.
This week, in the same appeals court, prosecutors made another argument: 33 years in prison without parole was not enough.
Mr Patterson did not come to court to hear the case, but listened to arguments via video link from a maximum security prison.
In July 2024, Patterson invited her husband’s estranged parents and two elderly friends to lunch. Within hours of eating, they experienced abdominal pain, and within a few days, three of the four died.
The case generated international headlines, podcasts, books and documentaries.
Patterson may have seen the location listed on citizen science website iNaturalist and was accused of deliberately seeking out death cap, the world’s most poisonous mushroom. She bought a dryer to dry the mushrooms before using them in the deadly meal.
Patterson was accused of faking illness by pretending to eat the same portion and in an elaborate ruse to suggest he had been poisoned. Prosecutors said she made separate batches of meals and only served the poisoned packages to customers.
Although her motive was not a key part of the trial, evidence presented by prosecutors suggested that her relationship with her step-parents had deteriorated.
Patterson has maintained his innocence, suggesting he had no knowledge that the mushrooms he added to his meals were poisonous and had no reason to kill his customers.
Patterson’s lawyers have seven points of appeal, starting with how the jury was sequestered, which they argue was “devastating” to their case.
They are talking about using a small hotel in the town of Morwell where the trial took place. Although there was no evidence that the guests had interacted, the possibility of an interaction “cannot be ruled out,” the lawyers said.
One of the judges noted that the jurors were isolated from other guests and ate and slept on separate floors of the hotel, but Patterson’s lawyers said the fact that the jurors were in the same building “fatally undermined the integrity of the verdict,” pointing to the need for justice not only to be done but “to be seen to be done.”
The other six points included the method of cross-examining Ms Patterson over several days, which her lawyers said was “unfair and oppressive”. Her lawyers argue that some of the evidence presented was irrelevant and prejudiced the case.
They said the testimony about the iNaturalist website was irrelevant because there was no evidence that she had seen the posts revealing the location of Death Cap. And they argue that the use of her Facebook posts about her in-laws was unfair because they were used to suggest she had a motive.
Patterson was sentenced to three life sentences for three murders and 25 years for the attempted murder of the only survivor.
Judge Christopher Beale sentenced Patterson to 33 years in prison without parole, citing his notoriety and the possibility of him spending many years in solitary confinement.
But prosecutors argued that Patterson should be jailed without the prospect of parole, just assuming he would be placed in solitary confinement.
If the Court of Appeal agrees, Patterson will become the second Australian woman to be sentenced to life in prison, after Catherine Knight, who murdered her de-facto husband and cooked parts of his body.
The hearing concluded Thursday, and the appeals court is likely to issue a decision at a later date, but it has not yet been announced.
