Australian mushroom murderer Erin Patterson begins appeal against sentence
Patterson’s lawyers say trial errors caused a miscarriage of justice, while prosecutors argue her 33-year non-parole term is too lenient.
- On Wednesday, August 19, 2026, the Supreme Court of Victoria began hearing Erin Patterson's appeal, addressing both her conviction challenge and the Crown's simultaneous push for a stricter sentence.
- Last year, a jury convicted Patterson of murdering her husband's parents, Gail Patterson and Donald Patterson, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson, by serving them a beef Wellington lunch laced with lethal death cap mushrooms.
- Defense counsel Richard Edney and Veronika Drago argue Patterson suffered a "substantial miscarriage of justice," claiming the trial judge erred in evidence admissibility decisions and unfair cross-examination.
- Director of Public Prosecutions Brendan Kissane simultaneously argues the 33-year non-parole period is "manifestly inadequate," urging judges to eliminate any possibility of future parole.
- Three judges will hear both appeals over two days in Melbourne, with Patterson watching via video link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, the maximum-security prison in the city's western suburbs.
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Australian prosecutors have demanded on appeal that the defendant in the notorious mushroom case never be released. Erin Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment late last year, with the possibility of early release after 33 years. The prosecution appealed against this verdict. The 51-year-old Patterson was found guilty of murder and attempted murder of four members of her former in-laws. In 2023, she had served her ex-husband's parents and…
Associated Press News
Prosecutor tells Australian appeals court mushroom poisoning murderer should never be released
A prosecutor tells an Australian court triple-murderer Erin Patterson should never be released from prison after she poisoned four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms.
Australian prosecutors have demanded in the appeal of the notorious mushroom murder case that the defendant never again stand a chance of being released. They want the defendant to receive another life sentence, but this time without the chance of being released after 33 years.
How a crowded hotel could lead to a retrial for Australia’s mushroom murderer
One of Australia’s most high-profile murder cases is back in court where a possible retrial or an even longer prison sentence awaits the home cook who used toxic mushrooms to kill three lunch guests.
No parole, ever? Why prosecutors say Erin Patterson's 33-year sentence is "manifestly inadequate"
An expert criminologist believes that Erin Patterson is “facing an uphill battle” to get her triple murder and attempted murder convictions overturned. Patterson’s case was back in court on 19 and 20 August with her defence team pointing to seven areas they believe are grounds for appeal. “None of them jumped out at me. I can’t see her being acquitted on any of those grounds,” Xanthe Weston, a criminologist at Central Queensland University tells…
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