Patterson's failed appeal leaves few legal avenues for the mushroom killer

Victoria's Court of Appeal has rejected Erin Patterson's appeal against her convictions, leaving the 52-year-old with remaining legal options in her bid for freedom.

Patterson was convicted last year of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder after serving a deadly beef Wellington lunch laced with death cap mushrooms to her relatives in 2023.

A Victorian Supreme Court jury found her guilty of murdering in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, along with Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. Mrs Wilkinson's husband, Ian Wilkinson, was gravely ill following the lunch, but survived.

The Leongatha mother has always maintained her innocence and claimed she did not know the mushrooms in the beef Wellington were poisonous.

In August, Patterson appealed the three life sentences handed down over the crime, but her lawyers were unsuccessful in having her conviction quashed.

Today, the Court of Appeal not only dismissed Patterson's appeal, but increased her sentence to life in prison without parole.

Could Victorian courts hear another appeal?

Former criminal barrister and legal researcher Christopher Corns said the Court of Appeal's decision meant there were very few options for Patterson to plead her case moving forward.

"The general principle in Victoria is that an appellant can only have one appeal, at least under the section that Patterson has used to appeal the conviction," Dr Corns said.

"However in 2019, reforms were introduced to permit a second appeal against conviction in very rare circumstances."

He said a second appeal could only be launched in the case of "fresh and compelling" evidence coming to light that would exonerate a convicted person.

Dr Corns said examples could be seen in the case of Nicola Gobbo, where several of her former clients were able to go to the Court of Appeal for a second time.

However, Dr Corns said in this particular case, it was unlikely to be an option.

"It seems to me that it is most unlikely that in Erin Patterson's case that she would be able to utilise that avenue, because if there was any significant evidence it would have been turned up by now by her," he said.

Could Patterson appeal to the High Court?

With that legal avenue unlikely, Dr Corns said Patterson's "only hope" was the High Court of Australia, which is able to overrule Victoria's Court of Appeal.

But Dr Corns warned the High Court of Australia was not simply another court where those convicted could "have a second go" at appealing.

"There are very strict criteria that the High Court applies to determine which cases they will hear or not," he said.

One high-profile example is Cardinal George Pell, who in 2020 had his convictions quashed by the High Court of Australia after his appeal was first rejected by the Victorian Court of Appeal.

Criminal law barrister Nick Papas KC said while the case of Cardinal Pell was a strong example of such an appeal, in reality it was "generally very difficult" for those appeals to be successful.

He said there needed to be a "fundamental failure" with the way Court of Appeal judges had interpreted the law for a person to have their appeal heard.

"You can't just think there was a mistake," Mr Papas said.

"It's got to be a clear-cut error that justifies an intervention over the decision of the Court of Appeal."