Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #5 *Arrest*

[LadyL]

Deadly mushroom lunch twist as major problem comes to light

A statement handed to police by the woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch may not be able to be used as evidence if the case reaches court.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A statement handed to police by the woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch that left three people dead may not be able to be used as evidence if the case reaches court.

Homicide detectives received Erin Patterson's statement detailing her version of events but the document was never signed, according to the Herald Sun, making it inadmissible in any legal proceedings.

well I would hope her lawyers would tell the truth about who it came from

 

[DeDee]

Deadly mushroom lunch twist as major problem comes to light

A statement handed to police by the woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch may not be able to be used as evidence if the case reaches court.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A statement handed to police by the woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch that left three people dead may not be able to be used as evidence if the case reaches court.

Homicide detectives received Erin Patterson's statement detailing her version of events but the document was never signed, according to the Herald Sun, making it inadmissible in any legal proceedings.

But weren't we told that she took an oath before giving the statement to her lawyers? Need to look that up. Maybe it requires a sig regardless in order to make it legally binding. From your link:

"Neither Victoria Police nor Ms Patterson's lawyers have confirmed whether or not the document was signed.

'Unless they put pen to paper, it's not a statement. An unsigned statement is not evidence,' one criminal lawyer who was not named said.

Defence lawyer George Balot claimed the unsigned document would mean Ms Patterson 'has not sworn to the matters therein'."


In a statement to police, Erin Patterson said she made a beef wellington using button mushrooms from a major supermarket and dried mushrooms bought at an Asian grocery store.

The 46-year-old said in the statement she also ate a serving of the meal and later suffered bad stomach pains and diarrhoea, contrary to detectives’ suggestions that she did not fall ill.

 

[MsMarple]

But weren't we told that she took an oath before giving the statement to her lawyers? Need to look that up. Maybe it requires a sig regardless in order to make it legally binding. From your link:

"Neither Victoria Police nor Ms Patterson's lawyers have confirmed whether or not the document was signed.

'Unless they put pen to paper, it's not a statement. An unsigned statement is not evidence,' one criminal lawyer who was not named said.

Defence lawyer George Balot claimed the unsigned document would mean Ms Patterson 'has not sworn to the matters therein'."


In a statement to police, Erin Patterson said she made a beef wellington using button mushrooms from a major supermarket and dried mushrooms bought at an Asian grocery store.

The 46-year-old said in the statement she also ate a serving of the meal and later suffered bad stomach pains and diarrhoea, contrary to detectives’ suggestions that she did not fall ill.

From August 14, the article called it a “sworn statement.” No mention of it being signed or not but if not then it’s essentially useless. All it would succeed in doing is make EP look like a liar…

Erin Patterson has given a sworn written statement to police, seen by this masthead, documenting her side of the incident, in a bid to answer the questions of homicide investigators and refute what she claims has been wildly inaccurate media reporting.

Mushroom cook says she bought fungi from Asian grocer and her children ate the lunch leftovers

Erin Patterson told police she, too, was sick from the beef Wellington lunch that police suspect killed her former in-laws and another relative.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Ellery84]

My local brewhouse published their new burger special on IG today… Beef Wellington Burger…

Oh come on!!!

But weren't we told that she took an oath before giving the statement to her lawyers? Need to look that up. Maybe it requires a sig regardless in order to make it legally binding. From your link:

"Neither Victoria Police nor Ms Patterson's lawyers have confirmed whether or not the document was signed.

'Unless they put pen to paper, it's not a statement. An unsigned statement is not evidence,' one criminal lawyer who was not named said.

Defence lawyer George Balot claimed the unsigned document would mean Ms Patterson 'has not sworn to the matters therein'."


In a statement to police, Erin Patterson said she made a beef wellington using button mushrooms from a major supermarket and dried mushrooms bought at an Asian grocery store.

The 46-year-old said in the statement she also ate a serving of the meal and later suffered bad stomach pains and diarrhoea, contrary to detectives’ suggestions that she did not fall ill.

That’s really interesting.

"Neither Victoria Police nor Ms Patterson's lawyers have confirmed whether or not the document was signed.

I’ll note, the police and the lawyers have neither confirmed or denied that the document was signed.

IMO I’m guessing the journalist rang each party and was offered a “no comment” response. They’ve then asked a defence lawyer to comment on that, and it’s become a story. Moo

To me, it’s almost a non-story: It shouldn’t be a slow news day today, there are major global conflicts going on, but I suppose the public’s appetite for any update on the “mushroom yarn” is almost veracious.

IMO

 

[JBowie]

Deadly mushroom lunch twist as major problem comes to light

A statement handed to police by the woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch may not be able to be used as evidence if the case reaches court.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A statement handed to police by the woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch that left three people dead may not be able to be used as evidence if the case reaches court.

Homicide detectives received Erin Patterson's statement detailing her version of events but the document was never signed, according to the Herald Sun, making it inadmissible in any legal proceedings.

Neither Victoria Police nor Ms Patterson's lawyers have confirmed whether or not the document was signed.

'Unless they put pen to paper, it's not a statement. An unsigned statement is not evidence,' one criminal lawyer who was not named said.

Defence lawyer George Balot claimed the unsigned document would mean Ms Patterson 'has not sworn to the matters therein'.

'The statement is prima facie documentary hearsay, I imagine,' he told the publication.

He added that it was 'very unusual' that Ms Patterson's lawyer submitted the statement before she was interviewed or charged.

Assuming any of this is true, then unless her lawyer at the time was incompetent, my guess is that no lawyer was involved at all in the drafting this 'statement'.

It remains a mystery how it got into the hands of police.

 

[Kemug]

Hmmm.

 

[MsMarple]

If EP wrote and released the statement without cooperation from her lawyers they would recuse themselves from representing her. No reputable law firm wants to be connected to those kinds of shenanigans when the case involves multiple deaths and a police investigation.

It’s possible the copy given to the media was unsigned. It doesn’t necessarily mean the original wasn’t signed.
MOO

 

[ch_13]

Neither Victoria Police nor Ms Patterson's lawyers have confirmed whether or not the document was signed.

'Unless they put pen to paper, it's not a statement. An unsigned statement is not evidence,' one criminal lawyer who was not named said.

Defence lawyer George Balot claimed the unsigned document would mean Ms Patterson 'has not sworn to the matters therein'.

'The statement is prima facie documentary hearsay, I imagine,' he told the publication.

He added that it was 'very unusual' that Ms Patterson's lawyer submitted the statement before she was interviewed or charged.

Assuming any of this is true, then unless her lawyer at the time was incompetent, my guess is that no lawyer was involved at all in the drafting this 'statement'.

It remains a mystery how it got into the hands of police.

My memory was that it was Erin's attorney who provided the police with the statement. I found this line in a recent Daily Mail article (but it is the DM, so take it with a grain of salt):
Ms Patterson's lawyer provided her statement to Victoria Police and the media back in August.

Also, while searching for that I came across this other Daily Mail article about Erin meeting with her attorneys. It contained this bit of shade :
It remains unclear how reporters were alerted to the mysterious meeting with her lawyers, who have been previously suspected of leaking their client's police statement to select journalists.

The way that line is written makes me think the Daily Mail wasn't one of the 'select journalists' to whom the statement was leaked.

 

[JBowie]

If EP wrote and released the statement without cooperation from her lawyers they would recuse themselves from representing her. No reputable law firm wants to be connected to those kinds of shenanigans when the case involves multiple deaths and a police investigation.

It’s possible the copy given to the media was unsigned. It doesn’t necessarily mean the original wasn’t signed.
MOO

IIRC, it was reported EP changed lawyers as things 'heated up'.

I'm convinced that EP is a liar so I give zero credence to anything that she says.

 

[MsMarple]

IIRC, it was reported EP changed lawyers as things 'heated up'.

I'm convinced that EP is a liar so I give zero credence to anything that she says.

The lawyer that EP claimed told her to give LE a “no comment” response was supposedly fired before her current lawyers took her statement.

EP does herself no favors with her behavior. Three people died and nearly a fourth and all she does is blather on and on about being too anxious to speak to LE. And so anxious she threw away evidence and lied to LE about it.

She’s likely lying about the source of the death caps too. Is it a surprise that her statement is coming under scrutiny?

But what’s important to her is that she can’t have friends over and mean people think she’s an “evil witch.” Who acts like that when people you claim to love are dying?
MOO

Edited to add link:

Woman who cooked suspected poisoned meal details where she bought mushrooms

The woman who cooked a meal that is believed to have contained poisonous mushrooms and led to the deaths of three people gives a lengthy written statement to police detailing her account of what happened, and revealing she was hospitalised after the incident.

www.abc.net.au

 

[al66pine]

"A statement handed to police by the woman.... may not be able to be used as evidence if the case reaches court." Oct 12 in DM*

Okay, apparently the opinion of an atty. NOT rep'ing her, just an atty giving an opinion ("MAY not be be used in court," does not say IS not admissible, or CAN'T be used in court) to a reporter's question. A question w exact phrasing unknown to readers/gen. public.

But generalizing about a written stmt like this, provided to LE ----
if, big IF, a person consulted an atty to provide info re certain events LE is investigating re three deaths, and atty reduced that version of events to writing, but failed accurately describe the events as client related,
WHY in the world would client provide the written stmt to LE?

Whether she did or did not sign, does not compute for me, sorry.

Going to claim???
--- She did not sign it, so "it doesn't count."
--- She did not read it, so "it doesn't count."
--- Atty. said give this to LE (doubtful), so "it's atty's fault it's all wrong."
All of the above, so stmt should not be admissible?

Identity of person providing written stmt to LE may be critical to question of admissibility at trial. ATM, I have doubts about whether atty provided to LE or to media. icbw.

* Deadly mushroom lunch twist as major problem comes to light

 

[Ellery84]

The lawyer that EP claimed told her to give LE a “no comment” response was supposedly fired before her current lawyers took her statement.

EP does herself no favors with her behavior. Three people died and nearly a fourth and all she does is blather on and on about being too anxious to speak to LE. And so anxious she threw away evidence and lied to LE about it.

She’s likely lying about the source of the death caps too. Is it a surprise that her statement is coming under scrutiny?

But what’s important to her is that she can’t have friends over and mean people think she’s an “evil witch.” Who acts like that when people you claim to love are dying?
MOO

Edited to add link:

Woman who cooked suspected poisoned meal details where she bought mushrooms

The woman who cooked a meal that is believed to have contained poisonous mushrooms and led to the deaths of three people gives a lengthy written statement to police detailing her account of what happened, and revealing she was hospitalised after the incident.

www.abc.net.au

‘Cause: Priorities.

 

[Ellery84]

I'm convinced that EP is a liar so I give zero credence to anything that she says.

Also, same.

Moo

 

[SouthAussie]

What the Herald Sun article says is that they have been told that the statement was unsigned. The police declined to comment, and EP's lawyers didn't answer their request for comment.

A top criminal lawyer (unnamed) said that would equate to what they call a 'can say' statement, where it provides information but isn't legally binding for the author.

A police source (unnamed) said that an unsigned statement makes the contents of the statement less consequential.

A leading defence lawyer, George Balot, said that if the statement is unsigned, EP has not sworn to its contents.

If EP is ever charged, he said prosecutors would try to get the document into evidence through an exception to the hearsay rule, but that would be subject to challenge (presumably he means a challenge by EP's defence lawyers).

New twist in case of fatal Leongatha mushroom lunch



In other words (imo) prosecutors would try to get the statement into evidence to show what she said happened, and her lawyers could say that she was under duress and only said what she thought happened, she might not have been accurate, and it can't be used as evidence.

imo

 

[Salah11]

What the Herald Sun article says is that they have been told that the statement was unsigned. The police declined to comment, and EP's lawyers didn't answer their request for comment.

A top criminal lawyer (unnamed) said that would equate to what they call a 'can say' statement, where it provides information but isn't legally binding for the author.

A police source (unnamed) said that an unsigned statement makes the contents of the statement less consequential.

A leading defence lawyer, George Balot, said that if the statement is unsigned, EP has not sworn to its contents.

If EP is ever charged, he said prosecutors would try to get the document into evidence through an exception to the hearsay rule, but that would be subject to challenge (presumably he means a challenge by EP's defence lawyers).

New twist in case of fatal Leongatha mushroom lunch



In other words (imo) prosecutors would try to get the statement into evidence to show what she said happened, and her lawyers could say that she was under duress and only said what she thought happened, she might not have been accurate, and it can't be used as evidence.

imo

So if this is true then it’s quite manipulative on her part.

 

[DeDee]

What is the law in AU that would protect the MSM that originally obtained EP's statement? Could the press in AU be made to reveal their source? Never in America would MSM be forced to reveal sources due to Freedom of the Press. Our journalists are more likely to prefer being imprisoned than reveal a source.

Either way, parts of her statement are available for public consumption. Surely the Queen's Court would enter as much of it as possible towards discovery. This latest clickbait about an unsigned statement could be a possible PR move so she can wiggle away from scraping the mushrooms off the Beef Wellington for the two children?

 

[SouthAussie]

What is the law in AU that would protect the MSM that originally obtained EP's statement? Could the press in AU be made to reveal their source? Never in America would MSM be forced to reveal sources due to Freedom of the Press. Our journalists are more likely to prefer being imprisoned than reveal a source.

Either way, parts of her statement are available for public consumption. Surely the Queen's Court would enter as much of it as possible towards discovery. This latest clickbait about an unsigned statement could be a possible PR move so she can wiggle away from scraping the mushrooms off the Beef Wellington for the two children?

The media here also are not compelled to reveal their sources. There are laws protecting them.

It would take a specific warrant and a judge's decision to allow that. And even then, I think the media would fight to keep their source private.

Journalists Can’t Be Forced to Reveal Their Sources, or Can They?

There are laws in place across the nation which provide limited protections to journalists when it comes to disclosing their sources.

www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au

imo

 

[Baby baby Jane]

What is the law in AU that would protect the MSM that originally obtained EP's statement? Could the press in AU be made to reveal their source? Never in America would MSM be forced to reveal sources due to Freedom of the Press. Our journalists are more likely to prefer being imprisoned than reveal a source.

Either way, parts of her statement are available for public consumption. Surely the Queen's Court would enter as much of it as possible towards discovery. This latest clickbait about an unsigned statement could be a possible PR move so she can wiggle away from scraping the mushrooms off the Beef Wellington for the two children?

Interesting that if this “statement” wasn’t made by EP, that (her lawyer) didn’t think they needed to publicly declare that it wasn’t her statement (until now).
Lots of () but if they are trying to back away from the statement, it’s unusual timing and strategy.

 

[Ellery84]

Could the press in AU be made to reveal their source?

No.

Not in this instance.

 

[ch_13]

Interesting that if this “statement” wasn’t made by EP, that (her lawyer) didn’t think they needed to publicly declare that it wasn’t her statement (until now).
Lots of () but if they are trying to back away from the statement, it’s unusual timing and strategy.

The attorney was the one who gave the police the statement in the first place, wasn't he? It would be weird for him to try to disavow it now. What could he say? "Oh, that statement I gave you wasn't really from Erin after all. It was just me and a few mates having a laugh."