Australian court rejects ‘mushroom murderer’ Erin Patterson’s appeal

What the report says

An Australian court has rejected Erin Patterson’s appeal against her murder conviction and left her facing life in prison without the possibility of parole. Al Jazeera, citing the Supreme Court of Victoria’s ruling delivered on Friday in Melbourne, reported that a three-judge panel dismissed the challenge brought by Patterson, who was convicted last year in the deaths of three relatives of her estranged husband and the attempted murder of a fourth person.

According to the report, the case arose from a family lunch in which beef wellington was allegedly served with deadly death cap mushrooms. Patterson was found guilty of killing her former in-laws, Gail and Donald Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and of attempting to kill Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived. The court said the offending was highly calculated and that the severity of the case meant no non-parole period should be set.

The article says Patterson’s lawyers had argued that trial evidence should have been excluded, that cross-examination was unfair, and that aspects of the jury’s accommodation may have affected the outcome. Judges rejected those grounds. Patterson can still seek to appeal to Australia’s High Court, which would be her final legal option.

The case has drawn broad attention in Australia and abroad because of its unusual facts and the rare sentence. As general background, life without parole is reserved for the most serious crimes in Australia and is uncommon, especially for women.