The prosecution’s response was simple. “The system worked as it was intended to work,” Director of Public Prosecutions Brendan Kissane KC said. The jury was constantly supervised, and when a potential problem was identified, steps were immediately taken to prevent it becoming an actual issue. The jury keeper, the lead detective, and the prosecution all
Outlining why Patterson’s crime was so “dreadful”, they talked of the “betrayal of trust” of family members whom she had invited for lunch. It was, they said, the culmination of a plan she had “orchestrated ” for months, including finding and preparing enough death caps to kill and “concocting a fantastic lie” to explain the
During Wednesday’s hearing, the appeal judges heard that while deliberating their verdict, jurors stayed in the same hotel as members of the prosecution team, a key police witness, and journalists. Patterson’s barrister Richard Edney said this “catastrophic” situation had “undermined the integrity of the verdicts and requires the quashing of the convictions”. He said a
Patterson won’t be attending the appeal in person. She’s chosen to appear via video link from Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, the maximum security prison on the outskirts of Melbourne where she’s serving her sentence. Last November, her legal team filed a three-page document outlining the arguments they plan to make in an effort to overturn
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