Leongatha Mushroom Trial: Jury Deliberates Erin Patterson’s Fate at Latrobe Valley Law Courts

The jury in Erin Patterson's mushroom murder trial has begun deliberations after a 10-week trial at Latrobe Valley Law Courts. Facing three murder charges and one attempted murder charge from a 2023 lunch at her Leongatha home, Patterson's fate now rests with a sequestered jury considering whether she deliberately intended to kill or harm her guests.

• Jury officially began deliberations at 1pm yesterday after Justice Beale's comprehensive instructions
• Prosecution doesn't need to prove motive for a guilty verdict, but must establish intent
• Jury being sequestered during deliberations with restricted outside contact
• Patterson's Leongatha property recently covered with black plastic sheeting by supporters
• Verdict timeline remains unknown—could come any moment or take weeks

Visit mushroommurdertrial.com to subscribe to our free newsletter with behind-the-scenes information. Message via the website's contact tab for a complimentary mushroom sticker. Consider supporting through a Buy Me A Coffee membership ($5) which helps cover studio hire, liability insurance, equipment, and production costs. Please leave a review if you're finding this podcast useful as it helps us reach more listeners.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Mushroom Murder Trial Podcast and my name
is Lisa.
The jury in the highlypublicised trial of Erin
Patterson has officially startedits deliberations, marking a
pivotal moment in thiscaptivating case.
Ms Patterson, aged 50, haspleaded not guilty to three
counts of murder and one countof attempted murder after the

(00:23):
fatal 2023 lunch held at herLeangatha home.
The trial has been held inMorwell at the Latrobe Valley
Law Courts and has stretchedover 10 weeks of complex law and
often emotional testimony.
At 1pm yesterday, the jury wasformally sent out of the court

(00:44):
to consider its verdict.
There's no way of knowing yethow long these deliberations may
take.
The media has been told if youwant to be there for a verdict,
it's the best idea to stay inMorwell because it's going to be
a sudden process.
But now the rest of the worldis waiting.
Justice Christopher Beale spentdays delivering his decisions,

(01:07):
known as the judge's charge, tothe jury, summarising key
evidence and outlining thecompeting arguments presented
throughout the trial.
He reminded jurors that theprosecution doesn't need to
prove a motive for them toreturn a guilty verdict.
Need to prove a motive for themto return a guilty verdict.

(01:29):
The question of intent iscentral to this murder trial,
Jurors must decide whether MsPatterson deliberately set out
to kill or cause serious injuryto her guests.
The jury is being sequesteredafter its daily deliberations in
the jury room at the court,meaning they're keeping them
together in a hotel or a similarvenue with restricted contact

(01:50):
with the outside world.
This isn't common in Australia.
Mostly happens in high-profiletrials like this one that have a
lot of media.
Meanwhile, outside thecourtroom, exclusive images
obtained by 7 News showed partsof Ms Patterson's Leon Gether
property has been covered inblack plastic sheeting, blocking

(02:13):
any view from the road to thecarport veranda and the front
door.
According to the report, thecoverings were erected in recent
days by the Mushroom Cookssupporters.
I used to work in crisiscommunications and I'm not sure
if these tarpaulins, as they'vebeen called, will be effective

(02:33):
against drones and helicopters,but we shall see what happens
and what the verdict is.
As the jury now deliberatesbehind closed doors, the outcome
of this extraordinary trialcould come at any moment, or
come in a week or two weeks.
We just don't know.
You've been listening to theMushroom Murder Trial podcast as

(02:54):
we head into the final days ofthe jury's deliberations.
I will continue to bring youcoverage, and after today we'll
all have to sit back and waitfor a verdict.
So thank you for listening tomy podcast today.
I also want to say welcome toall the people from Instagram
who are now following me and arelistening to the podcast.
Thanks so much.
Now for more information, visitmy website.

(03:17):
That's mushroommurdertrialcom.
Make sure you subscribe to thefree newsletter which will be
coming out very, very soon.
It's got lots of goodinformation, behind-the-scenes
information that you may like toread about, and it's jam-packed
with the latest, so I will beupdating it regularly.
Please message me via thewebsite's contact tab if you'd

(03:40):
like me to send you a free thankyou gift, which is a mushroom
sticker and it bears witness tothis journey we've taken
together and it's complimentary,so you don't have to pay.
Plus my social media detailsthey're in the show notes.
And if you're feeling likerewarding me for all the blood,
sweat and tears I put into thispodcast, I have a Buy Me A

(04:02):
Coffee membership which allowsyou to pay $5 as a thanks and I
get a coffee.
This goes towards the editingstudio, hire, liability
insurance, equipment, sound andvoiceovers.
Plus there's exclusivemembership material on the site,
just for the Buy Me A Coffeepeople.
Now, if you have donated, andthere's quite a few of you now,

(04:24):
so thank you so much.
Just send me a message there oron the website to get your
sticker.
If you want one, you don't haveto have one.
So subscribe to this podcastand follow us for more updates,
and if you're finding thispodcast useful, please leave a
review, because it helps us findmore listeners.
Until next time, I am going tobe keeping my eye constantly on

(04:48):
my email to see if there's beena decision by the jury, so I
will get back to you as soon asI have that information.
So thank you so much.
Have a wonderful day today.
I had to get this in earlybecause we're about to have like
a storm from hell here, AnotherEast Coast low, so we're about
to get winds and it's going tobe terrible.

(05:09):
So, anyway, thank you again somuch for your support and I
speak to you very, very soon.
Thanks Bye.