Australia's infamous mushroom murder case is headed back to court, the BBC reports. Erin Patterson, serving life for killing three relatives and poisoning a fourth with a 2023 beef Wellington lunch laced with death cap mushrooms, is appealing her convictions—and prosecutors are simultaneously pushing for a harsher sentence.
Patterson's lawyers argue she didn't get a fair trial, saying jurors saw prejudicial evidence, including phone data tracking her to mushroom sites and Facebook messages attacking her in-laws and estranged husband. They also say photos showing her as an experienced forager were wrongly kept out, cross-examination was "unfair and oppressive," and jury integrity was compromised when jurors stayed in the same hotel as prosecutors, a police witness, and reporters.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, say the chance of parole after 33 years is "manifestly inadequate" for a triple murder. Three judges will hear the appeals in a two-day hearing starting Wednesday, the Independent reports, and a decision could take months. If Patterson's conviction is overturned, she could be retried or acquitted; if the prosecutors are victorious, however, she could see her sentence harshened—up to the possibility of life without parole. Meanwhile, Patterson's estranged husband, who prosecutors say was an intended target of the poisonings before he decided not to attend the meal at the last minute, is publishing a book about his experience, the Guardian reported in April.
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