was a terrible accident<\/a>, caused by the mistaken inclusion of foraged mushrooms that she didn\u2019t know were death caps. Prosecutors didn\u2019t offer a motive for the killings, but during the trial highlighted strained relations between Patterson and her estranged husband and frustration that she had felt about his parents in the past.<\/p>\nThe case turned on the question of whether Patterson meticulously planned a triple murder or accidentally killed three people she loved, including her children\u2019s only surviving grandparents. Her lawyers said she had no reason to do so \u2014 she had recently moved to a beautiful new home, was financially comfortable, had sole custody of her children and was due to begin studying for a degree in nursing and midwifery.<\/p>\n
But prosecutors suggested Patterson had two faces \u2014 the woman who publicly appeared to have a good relationship with her parents-in-law, while her private feelings about them were kept hidden. Her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, who was invited to the fatal lunch but didn\u2019t go, deteriorated in the year before the deaths, the prosecution said.<\/p>\n
The simplest facts of what happened that day and immediately afterward were hardly disputed. But Patterson\u2019s motivations for what she did and why were pored over in detail during the lengthy trial, at which more than 50 witnesses were called.<\/p>\n
The individual beef Wellington pastries Patterson served her guests were one point of friction because the recipe she used contained directions for a single, family-sized portion. Prosecutors said that she reverted to individual servings, so she could lace the other diners\u2019 portions, but not her own, with the fatal fungi \u2014 but Patterson said that she was unable to find the correct ingredients to make the recipe as directed.<\/p>\n
Nearly every other detail of the fateful day was scrutinized at length, including why Patterson sent her children out to a film before her guests arrived, why she added additional dried mushrooms to the recipe from her pantry, why she didn\u2019t become ill when the other diners did, and why she disposed of a food dehydrator after the deaths and told investigators that she didn\u2019t own one.<\/p>\n
Patterson acknowledged some lies during her evidence \u2014 including that she\u2019d never foraged mushrooms or owned a dehydrator. But she said that those claims were made in panic as she realized her meal had killed people.<\/p>\n
She said she didn\u2019t become as ill as the other diners since she vomited after the meal because of an eating disorder. She denied that she told her guests she had cancer as a ruse to explain why she invited them to her home that day.<\/p>\n
The bizarre and tragic case has lingered in the minds of Australians and has provoked fervor among the public and media. During the trial, five separate podcasts analyzed each day of the proceedings and several news outlets ran live blogs giving moment-by-moment accounts of more than two months of evidence.<\/p>\n
At least one television drama and a documentary about the case are slated for production. Prominent Australian crime writers were seen in court throughout the trial. <\/p>\n
As it emerged half an hour before the verdict that the court was reconvening, about 40 members of the public queued outside the courthouse in the rural town of Morwell in the hope of watching the outcome in person. News outlets reported that family members of the victims were not among those present. <\/p>\n
Before the verdict, newspapers published photos of black privacy screens erected at the entrance to Erin Patterson\u2019s home. Dozens of reporters from throughout Australia and from news outlets abroad crowded around friends of Patterson’s as they left the courthouse Monday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI’m saddened, but it is what it is,\u201d said one friend, Ali Rose Prior, who wore sunglasses and fought back tears. Asked what she thought Patterson felt as the verdicts were read, Prior said, \u201cI don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior, who attended every day of the trial, confirmed Patterson had told her: \u201cSee you soon.\u201d Prior said she would visit her friend in prison.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian woman Erin Patterson was found guilty Monday of murdering three of her estranged husband\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":45812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35676,347,245,57,51,4221,362,50,35675,17472,52,8007,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-45811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-35676","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-children","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-homicide","14":"tag-legal-proceedings","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nursing-homes","17":"tag-poisoning","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-trials","20":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114811648446150286","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}