Lawyers for convicted Australian triple murderer Erin Patterson told an appeal court that her conviction was undermined by a "catastrophic" mix-up in which the deliberating jury stayed at the same hotel as prosecutors, a key police witness and journalists. Patterson, who is serving a life sentence for killing three relatives and attempting to kill a fourth with a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms, is seeking to have her convictions quashed and a retrial ordered, arguing the situation compromised the trial's integrity.

At the Court of Appeal hearing in Melbourne, which Patterson watched via video link, her barrister Richard Edney said the hotel mix-up meant "justice can not only be done but be seen to be done" through a retrial, while prosecutor Brendan Kissane called it regrettable but accidental, insisting there was no evidence of contact between the jury and outside parties. Her defence also challenged the use of mobile phone tower evidence linking her to reported death cap sightings, calling it speculative, though prosecutors defended its relevance. In a separate strand of the same hearing, Victoria's Director of Public Prosecutions is appealing Patterson's sentence, arguing her 33-year non-parole period is "manifestly inadequate".