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Erin Patterson Lodges Seven-Ground Appeal Challenging Mushroom Murder Verdicts as Court Weighs Hearing

Prosecutors pursue a tougher sentence in a separate challenge to the 33-year non-parole term.

Overview

  • Victoria’s Court of Appeal confirmed Patterson’s appeal has been filed but said it has not yet been accepted for hearing.
  • The first ground alleges a fundamental irregularity in jury sequestration after jurors stayed at the same small-town hotel as police, prosecutors and media during deliberations.
  • Appeal papers note hotel CCTV from the sequestration period was accidentally erased, while Victoria Police and the Office of Public Prosecutions deny any inappropriate conduct.
  • The filing challenges evidentiary rulings over cell-tower reports, iNaturalist death cap sightings and Facebook material, and says some defence content about mushroom foraging should have been admitted.
  • Patterson also claims oppressive cross-examination and a late shift in the Crown’s approach to motive, as the DPP separately appeals her sentence as manifestly inadequate.