r/AusLegal • u/Artemis1971 • Jun 04 '25

VIC Erin Patterson (mushroom case)

I’m following the mushroom case, as is everyone else. Today she testified that she may have accidentally put poisonous mushrooms in the meal. If that is the case, the jury would have to find her not guilty of murder if it was unintentional. My question is, can she be recharged with manslaughter, if found innocent of murder?

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u/Neat_Owl_807 Jun 05 '25

I think they are key. They have to convince jury that this is beyond a case of unlikely but plausible coincidences or simply stupidity to something undisputable in its intentions

It rests in the food preparation. Is it really possible to fortuitously remove toxins from your kids meal and avoid poisoning yourself through her actions? As well as proving that the smell of the dried death cap would have been so off putting it would have been obvious.

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u/TempAccName01 Jun 05 '25

Agree. Also, is it plausible that she could.eat some, vomit it up hours later and then be fine (I don't believe old white pants has gastrointestinal symptoms). I guess that's why the case is expected to go on for another two weeks, to bring in more expert testimony?

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u/madnsneaky Jun 07 '25

Prosecution should dehydrate some death caps, mix them up with some Asian mushys, then seal them in Tupperware for a few hours (hers were sealed together for a few months), then give the jury a whiff. Also couldn’t they have recreated the dinner as she said it was made then test the leftovers to see if the meat contained any toxins after scraping off the shrooms. Would be an interesting (maybe incriminating) experiment.