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yesterday

Jury Retires to Deliberate Verdict in Mushroom Poisoning Murder Trial

A sequestered 12-member panel must determine whether Patterson deliberately poisoned her in-laws with death cap mushrooms at a July 2023 lunch

Erin Patterson is accused of serving her former husband’s family beef wellington deliberately laced with death cap mushrooms
Defence team members of Erin Patterson, an Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged husband's elderly relatives with a meal laced with poisonous mushrooms, barrister Sophie Stafford and barrister Colin Mandy SC, depart the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morwell, Australia, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
A general view of the front of the Latrobe Valley Law Courts where the Erin Patterson murder trial is taking place in Morwell, Australia, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
Twelve jurors will have to consider the prosecution's case, the defence arguments and a judge's directions before they reach their verdicts in Erin Patterson's murder trial.

Overview

  • Jurors retired to begin deliberations on charges of three murders and one attempted murder after a nine-week trial
  • Justice Christopher Beale concluded his four-day charge by outlining how jurors should weigh Patterson’s admitted falsehoods and maintain a media blackout
  • The 14-member panel was reduced by random ballot to a sequestered 12-juror group tasked with delivering unanimous verdicts on each count
  • Patterson faces three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for allegedly dosing her in-laws’ beef Wellington with deadly death cap mushrooms
  • Toxicology experts and security footage of a discarded dehydrator revealed trace amatoxins supporting the prosecution’s claim of intentional poisoning