Erin Patterson's murder conviction faces appeal as prosecutors seek harsher sentence

In Melbourne, Erin Patterson continues her effort to overturn a triple murder conviction, focusing on the exclusion of SD-card images that suggest she habitually foraged mushrooms. Defence counsel claim the reversal of a trial judge’s ruling forced Patterson to testify against her own right to silence, a point the appellate judges highlighted as potentially inevitable. The Court of Appeal is hearing arguments from Patterson’s barristers Richard Edney and Veronika Drago, supported by Bill Doogue and Ophelia Hollway.

The Office of Public Prosecutions will respond to the appeal and simultaneously seek a higher minimum sentence to remove any chance of parole. A procedural error that placed jurors near a police informant’s hotel was raised by the defence as a “catastrophic” breach, though prosecutors dismissed it as speculative. The hearing began at 10:15 a.m. in Courtroom 1 of the Supreme Court of Victoria.