Who is Erin Patterson? Australian woman found guilty of all counts in mushroom murders case
The trial lasted ten weeks and gained a lot of attention from both local and international media.
Who is Erin Patterson?
50-year-old Erin Patterson was convicted of murdering her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, her father-in-law, Donald Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. She was also found guilty of trying to kill Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson.
The four victims visited Erin Patterson's house in Leongatha, a small town about 84 miles southeast of Melbourne, where she served them beef Wellington, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Later the investigors found that the meals contained deadly death cap mushrooms.
A jury in Morwell, a town around two hours from Melbourne, found her guilty of all charges.
During weeks of testimony, Patterson was accused of deliberately tainting the lunch with death cap mushrooms, highly toxic fungi that she picked after seeing their location posted on a public website.
In the days after, her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, died along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson. Heather's husband Ian, their local pastor, survived after a weekslong stay in hospital.
Also Read: Woman accused of killing in-laws with poisoned mushrooms; jury to decide fate
Her defense lawyers had argued the deaths were a 'terrible accident' that occurred when Patterson tried to improve the taste of the meal, and that she repeatedly lied to police out of panic when she realized she may have added foraged mushrooms to the mix.
Patterson sat in court, listening as prosecutors called witness after witness, whose testimony, they alleged, told a compelling story of a triple murder that the jury ultimately found satisfied the legal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
Under Australian law, none of the jurors can be publicly identified, and they're prohibited from disclosing jury room deliberations even after the trial ends.
It will never be known which pieces of evidence influenced each juror's decision, but all 12 were required to agree on the verdict.
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