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Mushroom killer arrested

Patterson guilty of all charges. Life with a very lengthy period before the possibility of parole awaiting her.
 
My concerns of the trial in her own backyard were misplaced. Well done jury. I cannot see any grounds for an appeal. The judge’s direction to the jury favoured her if anything.
 
I haven't been really following this case as it was happening - I'm only interested in the verdict at the end. But this is what Richter KC said about a possible appeal:

High-profile barrister Robert Richter KC said the most common ground was that the verdict was unsatisfactory and unreasonable.

"The Court of Appeal might find that it isn't sufficient to justify a conviction," he said.

"But that on its own is a very difficult ground to get home, because it sort of does not usurp the function of the jury, but what it does is it looks at what a jury ought to have concluded or should have concluded."

Mr Richter said if any of the directions given to the jury had misstated the law, it could be grounds for an appeal, but noted the judge presiding over the high-profile case had been "very careful".
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www.abc.net.au

These are Erin Patterson's options for an appeal

After being found guilty of murdering three relatives and the attempted murder of a fourth, Erin Patterson could move to lodge an appeal.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
Richter is an ancient leftie who unsuccessfully represented Pell. His opinion that the judge was “very careful” was an understatement. There will be no appeal on this basis in my view. I doubt that appeal judges will find the conviction unsafe given the length of the trial and the jury deliberation.

I may be wrong, but I don’t think I am.
 
I read an article today which said that there are still reporting restrictions about some of the evidence in Australia. Obviously Australian members should not click on that archive link to read the full article, as that would be bad.

That evidence [about the alleged attempts on Simon Patterson's life] has remained secret to this day.
Indeed, a suppression order imposed by Justice Beale after the verdict means it remains illegal for news organisations to publish details in Australia, meaning the Mail has been forced to block readers based in the country from accessing this story via the internet.
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Can anyone explain why this is being kept secret - is there likely to be another trial despite these allegations being dropped?
 
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Food Youtuber Ann Reardon attended the trial and has a summary of it. It's actually a pretty solid analysis, from what I can tell.

 
Agatha said:
I read an article today which said that there are still reporting restrictions about some of the evidence in Australia. Obviously Australian members should not click on that archive link to read the full article, as that would be bad.



Can anyone explain why this is being kept secret - is there likely to be another trial despite these allegations being dropped?
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Possibly because there is in theory a chance of retrial until the appeals process is exhausted?
 
Agatha said:
I read an article today which said that there are still reporting restrictions about some of the evidence in Australia. Obviously Australian members should not click on that archive link to read the full article, as that would be bad.



Can anyone explain why this is being kept secret - is there likely to be another trial despite these allegations being dropped?
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I can understand why the restrictions were in place during the trial, and why it wasn't allowed as evidence in the trial, perhaps it's standard in Australia to only lift the restrictions after sentencing?
 
Darat said:
I can understand why the restrictions were in place during the trial, and why it wasn't allowed as evidence in the trial, perhaps it's standard in Australia to only lift the restrictions after sentencing?
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I really don’t know the answer to this, but there is no doubt the judge was bending over backwards to make the trial as fair as possible. It was reported today that the jury were not told that she was confined to Morwell jail for the duration of the trial and she was not to be seen with handcuffs or prison guards.

With every sentence of the trial transcript to be closely examined to find grounds for an appeal, probably very prudent of the judge.
 
Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life with a non-parole period of 33 years. I really don’t know what more one needs to do to get life without parole.
 
lionking said:
Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life with a non-parole period of 33 years. I really don’t know what more one needs to do to get life without parole.
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Appeal the sentence.

An Office of Public Prosecutions spokeswoman told NewsWire that all sentences in DPP cases are routinely reviewed, and while the law allows the DPP to appeal a sentence if it is considered “manifestly inadequate,” such appeals are difficult and only succeed if the court finds the original sentence was clearly unreasonable.

“A decision has not yet been made as to whether the sentence imposed upon Erin Patterson should be appealed,” the spokeswoman said.
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One thing I don't get, though, is why she went ahead and poisoned everyone else after her ex canceled, especially in light of the information that's now come to light about how she'd clearly attempted to poison him several times previously. He was obviously the main target, so why didn't she just wait for another opportunity?
 
SpitfireIX said:
One thing I don't get, though, is why she went ahead and poisoned everyone else after her ex canceled, especially in light of the information that's now come to light about how she'd clearly attempted to poison him several times previously. He was obviously the main target, so why didn't she just wait for another opportunity?
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I don’t think anyone here who has been following the case thinks she’s a deep thinker about anything at all.

Nah, I’m far too charitable. She’s an out and out idiot.
 
lionking said:
Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life with a non-parole period of 33 years. I really don’t know what more one needs to do to get life without parole.
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Apparently the judge decided that it shouldn't be "life without parole" because of the harsh prison conditions she'd face because of the notoriety of her case! Why would she be facing significantly harsher prison conditions? Her type of notoriety will fall away within a couple of years of her being inside. Is it because the judge thought she'd never get the chance to work in the kitchens? And is that reasoning used in other cases? For example people who kill a child as such prisoners will face "harsher conditions" because of their crime and how the inmates react to such people.
 
Darat said:
Apparently the judge decided that it shouldn't be "life without parole" because of the harsh prison conditions she'd face because of the notoriety of her case! Why would she be facing significantly harsher prison conditions? Her type of notoriety will fall away within a couple of years of her being inside. Is it because the judge thought she'd never get the chance to work in the kitchens? And is that reasoning used in other cases? For example people who kill a child as such prisoners will face "harsher conditions" because of their crime and how the inmates react to such people.
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Probably similarly to many nations, Australian women don’t end up in prison for unpaid fines and vagrancy, but for very, very serious violent crimes. Notorious criminals will always be targeted.

I detest Patterson but I don’t want her further punished by violent prisoners. On reflection, maybe the sentence is correct.
 
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