Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #14 *Arrest*

[Detechtive]

"He suggests to the jury that his client had conversations with more than 21 people over 24 hours at one point in the week after the lunch, and it was hard to remember what she told each of those people."

As my Irish grandmother often said---" If you only speak the truth , then you can always remember what you've said to others. "

Yeah exactly - if your story was consistent, why would you need to remember?

 

[drsleuth]

4.16pm

21 people, 24 hours: The ‘surgical examination’ of Erin Patterson’s account​

By​

Erin Patterson had the right to remain silent in her own murder trial, forcing the prosecution to prove their case without her testimony.

She could have stayed quiet, her barrister Colin Mandy, SC, told the jury in courtroom 4 in Morwell on Tuesday afternoon.

Instead, he told a packed courtroom in Morwell that his client chose to enter the witness box and face “the scrutiny of the whole world”.

“She decided to give evidence,” he told the court. “To give her account and subject herself to several days of cross-examination by a very experienced barrister.”

Taking the stand, he told the jury, meant facing public scrutiny about the fine details of her account and every word she had told people years earlier.

In the box, she laid bare her account, he said. “Admitting to you that she lied to the guests at the lunch, admitting to you the lies that she told once she realised that foraged mushrooms might be in that meal.”

Mandy told the jury that his client had spoken to 21 people across 24 hours at the hospital, as well as other people who were not witnesses in the case, and that her version of events remained generally consistent.

“There are others as well who spoke to her, asked her questions about the meal, preparation, where she got the mushrooms ... Meetings, appointments, phone calls, interviews, questions,” Mandy said.

“In any meaningful way, her account was the same to those people.”

Mandy said it was difficult to imagine a more intense “surgical examination” of someone’s account for such a long period in the witness box when they’ve sworn to tell the truth.

On that point, proceedings were wrapped up for the day.

Mandy is expected to continue giving his closing address tomorrow.

Erin Patterson murder trial day 33 as it happened: Accused mushroom cook lied to authorities and in witness box, prosecutor says in concluding argument; defence argues no intent, panic explains actions

Inside courtroom four in Morwell, Patterson, on trial for murder, listened intently as prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, concluded her closing argument, and defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, commenced his.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Detechtive]

21 witnesses in 24 hours​

Mr Mandy has moved onto the credibility of his client.
He admitted she did tell lies out of panic, but he emphasised she spoke to 21 witnesses in the space of 24 hours in the wake of the lunch.
He said, despite this, her account was “meaningfully” the same each time she spoke to someone.
He took the jury to an example, referring to the evidence of toxicologist Dr Conor McDermott from Austin Health and Dr Veronica Foote from Leongatha Hospital.
Dr McDermott said Erin told him the dried mushrooms she bought may have come from an Asian grocer in Oakleigh or Glen Waverley, but Dr Foote said Erin told her she bought them in Melbourne.
But Mr Mandy said considering Dr Foote was based in Leongatha, the Melbourne suburbs of Oakleigh and Glen Waverley may have meant nothing to her.
He said Erin was cross-examined about exactly what she told everyone over five days, up to five hours a day.
“It’s very difficult to imagine a more intense surgical examination of someone’s account for such a long period of time … in the witness box,” he said.
Justice Beale told the jury Mr Mandy’s voice was “failing” him a little, so they would finish early today.
He will continue his address at 10.30am tomorrow.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/the-mushroom-cook/erin-patterson-trial-live-closing-addresses-continue-in-mushroom-cook-case/live-coverage/2d6e483591ad308c611f94b4f9620a47#/entry/32266861

 

[MrJ]

Mr Mandy has moved onto the credibility of his client.

Has he considered being a stand-up comedian?

 

[Megnut]

They found evidence of the Death Cap toxins. Yeah the meat would have gotten them by exposure.

Yes, but it works the other way too. If the meat was contaminated, it would leach into duxelle...

Maybe the challenge was indeed getting the duxelle just right in order for it to overpower the contaminated beef.

What EP could have picked up in an Asian market (or really anywhere) is MSG, sprinkle that on anything and you'll salivate like you've been starved for years. MSG makes everything (seem to) taste better (by tricking the ol' salivary glands). Why the store bought gravy? Was that what she used for the duxelle or is the packet gravy (which in the U.S. would contain all kinds of hidden MSG) what made the BWs so especially tasty? Great place to place some extra powder too.

Maybe Erin isn't a cook; she's a chemist.

JMO

 

[MrJ]

Just a heads up I'll be busy tomorrow so someone will need to post the ABC live blog updates. I doubt I'll be missing that much

 

[Detechtive]

Yes, but it works the other way too. If the meat was contaminated, it would leach into duxelle...

Maybe the challenge was indeed getting the duxelle just right in order for it to overpower the contaminated beef.

What EP could have picked up in an Asain market (or really anywhere) is MSG, sprinkle that on anything and you'll salivate like you've been starved for years. MSG makes everything (seem to) taste better (by tricking the ol' salivary glands). Why the store bought gravy? Was that what she used for the duxelle or is the packet gravy (which in the U.S. would contain all kinds of hidden MSG) what made the BWs so especially tasty?

Maybe Erin isn't a cook; she's a chemist.

JMO

We know it did leach into the duxelle because the Death Caps were found in the leftovers which only comprised of pastry and duxelle, and perhaps microscopic meat particles. IMO

 

[JBowie]

He admitted she did tell lies out of panic, but he emphasised she spoke to 21 witnesses in the space of 24 hours in the wake of the lunch.

We've heard here about an Ask Me Anything session that EP allegedly held. I wish that had've been introduced into evidence.

 

[JBowie]

Maybe Erin isn't a cook; she's a chemist.

Her Facebook avatar suggests a different occupation.

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

“[In 2023] Erin was in a good place. She had a big beautiful house. She had just landscaped the garden,” Mandy said.

He said that at the time Patterson had her children with her, she was looking forward to returning to studying.
“All things considered, she was in a good place,” Mandy said.

Oh sure Mandy, it's obvious to anyone your client was ever the picture of happiness.

 

[katydid23]

I'm thinking Kathy Bates.

Kathy Bates is great but she's is a lot older now. She is starring in a new CBS show and she plays a grandmother in her 60's. [Great show by the way called Matlock.]

 

[Detechtive]

Kathy Bates is great but she's is a lot older now. She is starring in a new CBS show and she plays a grandmother in her 60's. [Great show by the way called Matlock.]

I need to see this - I love her as an actress, and she reminds me of Erin in Misery so much!

 

[katydid23]

100% And Erin walked straight into it.

Ha, and I bet EP was pretty snarky when she 'corrected' Dr. R. lol

"It was a Friday, I believe... Oh, and we lived in a house not an apartment..."

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

Who are you casting as Erin?

Probably too tall, but Katrina Milosevic.

 

[SouthAussie]

5. Mandy said that while Patterson had a right to silence and was under no obligation to testify in the trial she chose to give evidence in the trial. In doing so, he said, she opened herself up to days of cross-examination by an experienced barrister and the “scrutiny of the whole world”.

"She chose to, I didn't advise it"

imo

 

[Walk A Mile]

A neighbour’s bin? Buried in the backyard? Defence asks why leftovers weren’t hidden

I don't see how this supports her innocence. The prosecution's version is she falsely claimed to have scraped the mushrooms off for the children. The remains in the bin support that lie. If she disposed of them elsewhere, the question would have been "So where is the pastry and duxelle you removed?"

 

[Procrastinator]

Her defence would have advised her not to have mentioned it...

So as not to perjure herself?

 

[Lisa4]

What happens next for the jury as in any further information?
Is what they have heard prior to closing all they are going to get, no further clarifications ?

 

[katydid23]

I honestly don't make that much of it. If had been just a random day two years ago, sure, but that was a day significant to the case. I'm sure Erin's been over with her attorneys and even thinking about it when she's alone. That she knew the day of the week doesn't mean much to me.

It means something to me because she has been using her 'lack of memory' as a defense.

For example she claims she does not remember certain conversations with nurse, doctors or investigators. Sometimes just doesn't remember some of the conversations but doesn't remember even taking at all to at least one person.

But as you say, she and her attorneys would have been going over some of these witness statements, so she seriously blanks on the entire conversation, like it never happened?

And yet she seems to have crystal clear memories of certain discussions, incidents, past events.

 

[Detechtive]

What happens next for the jury as in any further information?
Is what they have heard prior to closing all they are going to get, no further clarifications ?

After the closing is done, the judge will direct the jury.