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Erin Patterson’s ‘miscarriage of justice’ arguments decoded · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Friday, November seven, twenty twenty five. One Nation has
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  Speaker 1: doubled its membership base since the May election and is
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  Speaker 1: establishing new party branches across regional Australia. One Nations weeks
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  Speaker 1: away from launching a new Central Queensland branch after last
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  Speaker 1: month poaching National's Tamworth members to set up a base
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  Speaker 1: in the heart of Barnaby Joyce's New South Wales electorate
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  Speaker 1: of New England. That's an exclusive live now at the
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  Speaker 1: Australian dot Com Dot a you. Aaron Patterson waited until
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  Speaker 1: the very last moment to launch her appeal against the
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  Speaker 1: Mushroom murder convictions, and she's arguing she was the victim
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  Speaker 1: of a gross miscarriage of justice. Patterson has always denied
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  Speaker 1: wrongdoing and now she says the trial was unfair in
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  Speaker 1: seven different ways. Today Patterson's bid to get out of jail.
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  Speaker 1: How does Aaron Patterson say she was wrongly convicted? Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's count the ways. There are seven grounds of appeal
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  Speaker 1: in documents lodged by Aaron Patterson's lawyers with the Victorian
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  Speaker 1: Supreme Court. And now, of course, it's up to the
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  Speaker 1: Court of Appeal to decide whether or not to grant
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  Speaker 1: leave to Aaron Patterson to proceed to the next stage. First,
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  Speaker 1: the court will consider the application. If it considers an
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  Speaker 1: appeal is justified, hearings will be scheduled. That's all likely
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  Speaker 1: a long way off, so it's safe to say Patterson
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  Speaker 1: will be spending Christmas in Victoria's toughest women's prison, the
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  Speaker 1: Dame Phyllis Frost Center. Listeners to the front will remember
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  Speaker 1: what Patterson's lawyer said about that prison at the sentencing hearing.
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  Speaker 1: This is a voice acted exchange from back in August
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  Speaker 1: between Patterson's then lawyer, Colin Mandy sc and Jennifer Hosking
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  Speaker 1: at Commissioner with Corrections Victoria Holskins said Patterson had access
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  Speaker 1: to a small mesh fenced yard outside her solitary cell,
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  Speaker 1: which adjoins her next door neighbor's yard.
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  Speaker 2: Miss Patterson currently communicates with one other person while they
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  Speaker 2: are in separate yards. She does not currently physically mix
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  Speaker 2: with other women in the unit.
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  Speaker 3: That's yes, that's correct. She has approval to have access
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  Speaker 3: with one other prisoner. I'm not aware of how frequently
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  Speaker 3: that occurs, but she certainly approved to do that.
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  Speaker 2: And although she has that approval, can I suggest to
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  Speaker 2: you that she has never spoken one word to that
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  Speaker 2: other prisoner.
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  Speaker 3: I can't deny that. I have no further information on
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  Speaker 3: that point. That could be for a range of reasons.
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  Speaker 3: It could be the other person or her not wishing
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  Speaker 3: to have that conversation.
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  Speaker 2: And that other person is one of the prisoners who's
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  Speaker 2: been in that unit for a number of years.
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  Speaker 3: That's correct.
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  Speaker 2: And they are serving a sentence for terrorism offenses. Is
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  Speaker 2: that right?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, that's correct, and.
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  Speaker 2: They have attacked other prisoners whilst they've been in custody, correct,
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  Speaker 2: that's correct.
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  Speaker 1: Jennifer Hoskins said Patterson's cell was basic.
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  Speaker 3: She has normal cell provisions, things like television, room for
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  Speaker 3: her personal items. I understand she has. She's a keen
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  Speaker 3: crocheer and she has a lot of woolen crochet equipment
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  Speaker 3: in there. She has a computer. She has a computer
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  Speaker 3: which she's had for some time and that's in her cell.
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  Speaker 3: She also has her own pillows. She has a number
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  Speaker 3: of crocheted blankets that she's made herself. She has toiletries, books, magazines,
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  Speaker 3: She has a hair straightener and a fan.
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  Speaker 1: So it's not surprising Patterson wants to get out. But
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  Speaker 1: this isn't a complaint about her living conditions. It's Patterson
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  Speaker 1: trying to get the verdicts themselves overturned. Remember, she was
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  Speaker 1: convicted of the murder of her parents in law, Don
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  Speaker 1: and Gale Patterson, and her husband's auntie, Heather Wilkinson. Heather's
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  Speaker 1: husband In Wilkinson survived the lunch. Aaron Patterson had also
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  Speaker 1: invited her estranged husband, Simon Patterson to the lunch that
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  Speaker 1: he declined to attend, and it was revealed after the
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  Speaker 1: trial that in evidence, the jury hadn't heard Simon Patterson
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  Speaker 1: had previously told a Victorian court he believed his wife
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  Speaker 1: had tried to poison him on multiple occasions before the lunch.
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  Speaker 1: A jury of twelve found Patterson guilty of murder and
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  Speaker 1: attempted murder, and in Victoria the jury has to be unanimous.
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  Speaker 1: And remember Aaron Patterson has always denied wrongdoing. She says
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  Speaker 1: she accidentally included deathcat mushrooms in the deadly meal and
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  Speaker 1: never meant to harm these elderly relatives whom she loved.
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  Speaker 1: So here's how Patterson says she was dudded. Ground one
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  Speaker 1: of her appeal is read for you by an AI voice.
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  Speaker 4: A fundamental irregularity occurred while the jury was sequested that
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  Speaker 4: has fatally undermined the integrity of the verdicts and requires
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  Speaker 4: the quashing of the convictions and an order for a
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  Speaker 4: retrial so that justice cannot only be done, but be
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  Speaker 4: seen to be done.
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  Speaker 1: There are no more details in the appeal documents, but
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  Speaker 1: avid watches of this matter will recall that in July,
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  Speaker 1: Victorian Supreme Court Judge Christopher Beale, who heard the trial
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  Speaker 1: and sentenced Patterson to thirty three years without parole, revealed
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  Speaker 1: that there was an issue while the jury was sequestered
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  Speaker 1: to consider its verdict. Back then, the judge said the
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  Speaker 1: jury had been staying at the same hotel as the
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  Speaker 1: police informant who charged Aaron Patterson, Detective Leading Senior Constable
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  Speaker 1: Stephen Eppingstall, and two prosecution solicitors. The judge said there
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  Speaker 1: had been no interaction with the jury. Pattison's second ground
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  Speaker 1: is that the cell tower evidence and evidence of deathcap
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  Speaker 1: mushroom sidings in lock and outram posted to our naturalist
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  Speaker 1: should not have been adduced in the trial. Patterson says
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  Speaker 1: they weren't relevant or the probative value of that evidence
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  Speaker 1: was outweighed by its unfair prejudice. That's where Aaron Patterson's
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  Speaker 1: phone was allegedly pinging off cell towers in the same
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  Speaker 1: spots where deathcap mushrooms had been cited by off duty
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  Speaker 1: mushroom fans who posted to this botany website I Naturalist.
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  Speaker 1: The third ground is about photos and videos related to
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  Speaker 1: mushrooms found on SD cards at Aaron Patterson's home. The
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  Speaker 1: judge ruled those out of the trial, Aaron Patterson's saying
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  Speaker 1: they should have been allowed in. It's possible that what
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson's going to argue is that the judge didn't
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  Speaker 1: let the jury see and hear evidence of what Patterson said.
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  Speaker 1: She was an avid forager and had photos to prove
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  Speaker 1: it coming up how Patterson says her own Facebook posts
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't have been seen by the jury. Aaron Patterson's fourth
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  Speaker 1: ground of appeal is that the judge made a mistake
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  Speaker 1: by allowing the jury to hear what's called the Facebook evidence.
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  Speaker 1: That's where Patterson was communicating with online friends, and if
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  Speaker 1: you recall the trial, she was very frank in her
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  Speaker 1: feelings about Simon Patterson's family. Ground five is that a
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  Speaker 1: substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred because of unfair and
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  Speaker 1: depressive cross examination of Patterson. She's saying that Nanette Rodgers,
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  Speaker 1: the Crown prosecutor, went too hard. Here's one of their
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  Speaker 1: exchanges from the trial, read by voice actors Feces. When
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  Speaker 1: Patterson claimed while in the witness box that she was
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  Speaker 1: a sufferer of bulimia. She said after the lunch guests
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  Speaker 1: went home, she polished off two thirds of an orange
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  Speaker 1: cake Gail Patterson had baked. Patterson said, she then threw up.
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  Speaker 5: Is it your evidence that the vomit was partly constituted
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  Speaker 5: by the beef? Wellington? Correct?
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  Speaker 3: I have no idea what was in the vomit at all.
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  Speaker 5: Well, it's how.
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  Speaker 3: Could I its vomit unless you can see a bean
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  Speaker 3: or a piece of corn.
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  Speaker 5: Well, you didn't have corn at the lunch.
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  Speaker 3: That was an example.
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  Speaker 5: I suggest that you did not tell a single medical
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  Speaker 5: person that you had vomited after the lunch on the
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  Speaker 5: afternoon of the twenty ninth of July.
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  Speaker 3: That is true. I did not do that.
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  Speaker 5: I suggest that that is something you would have told
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  Speaker 5: them if it were true, correct or incorrect?
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  Speaker 3: Incorrect?
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  Speaker 5: Do you say it's incorrect because of your embarrassment?
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  Speaker 3: I say it's incorrect because it's what happened.
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  Speaker 1: Pattison's sixth ground is a claim that prosecutor Nanette Rogers
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  Speaker 1: caused a substantial miscarriage of justice in her closing address,
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  Speaker 1: and Ground seven elaborates on why Patterson says that's the case.
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  Speaker 1: She says a substantial miscarriage of justice occurred because even
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  Speaker 1: though in her opening address Nannette Rogers had said, we're
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  Speaker 1: not going to present you with a motive here, We're
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  Speaker 1: just going to show you the evidence, Patterson claims that
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  Speaker 1: in her closing address, Nanett Rogers did imply a motive. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the judges will look very closely at what Rogers said
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  Speaker 1: in that closing but here's a snippet of it. To
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  Speaker 1: be clear, we don't know if this is exactly what
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  Speaker 1: Patterson is referring to in her appealed documents when she
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  Speaker 1: says Rogers implied a motive. This is a voice actor.
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  Speaker 5: The evidence shows you might think that the divide between
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  Speaker 5: the accused and her in laws was deeper than they
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  Speaker 5: ever knew. We say that the accused was leading a
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  Speaker 5: duplicitous life. When it came to the Patterson's, she presented
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  Speaker 5: one side while expressing contra beliefs to others. When Don
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  Speaker 5: and Gale sent the accused messages about her ongoing financial
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  Speaker 5: issues with Simon and mentioned praying, she replied with an
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  Speaker 5: eye roll emoji. She was mocking them and their religious
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  Speaker 5: beliefs despite attending church with them. If she did love
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  Speaker 5: them as she claimed, one would expect her to inquire
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  Speaker 5: after their welfare immediately in those circumstances. But what did
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  Speaker 5: she do When Simon told her that Don and Gale
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  Speaker 5: were in hospital? She immediately went on to talk about
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  Speaker 5: her own symptoms, never asked a question about Don and Gale.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's over to the Victorian courts to decide if
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  Speaker 1: this appeal can go ahead. You can check out all
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  Speaker 1: our reporting and analysis on this and all the great
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  Speaker 1: court stories right now at the Australian dot com au