Erin Patterson, convicted of murdering three relatives with poisoned mushrooms, is appealing her convictions on the grounds that a hotel booking mix-up compromised the fairness of her trial. Her lawyers argue that the sequestered jury, who were meant to be fully isolated during deliberations, ended up staying at the same hotel as the lead police detective and two prosecution solicitors, which they say "fatally undermined" the trial's fairness and should result in a re-trial.

The mix-up arose because accommodation in Victoria's Gippsland region was already scarce during the lengthy trial, and a national table tennis championship held in the area during the exact week the jury retired made the shortage far worse. Although jurors reportedly had exclusive use of a separate hotel floor and ate meals away from other guests, they shared communal areas such as the lobby with case-connected figures, including Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall. Justice Christopher Beale had ordered the jury sequestered specifically to shield them from public and media frenzy surrounding the high-profile case, which drew huge attention to the towns of Korumburra, Leongatha and Morwell.