Patterson Appeal Targets Phone Tower and Mushroom-Sighting Evidence

Erin Patterson's lawyers told the Victorian Court of Appeal on 20 August 2026 that phone tower data and iNaturalist death cap mushroom records were irrelevant or unfairly prejudicial and should not have reached the jury. The Crown argued the evidence showed Patterson could source death cap mushrooms before the fatal Leongatha lunch. If the trial judge erred in admitting it, her three murder convictions could be vulnerable. Patterson was convicted in 2025 and sentenced to life with a 33-year non-parole period.