An expert criminologist believes that Erin Patterson is “facing an uphill battle” to get her triple murder and attempted murder convictions overturned.
Patterson’s case was back in court on 19 and 20 August with her defence team pointing to seven areas they believe are grounds for appeal.
“None of them jumped out at me. I can’t see her being acquitted on any of those grounds,” Xanthe Weston, a criminologist at Central Queensland University tells New Idea.
One of the defence team’s points is the fact that the cross-examination of Patterson by lead prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC was “unfair and oppressive”.
“Patterson agreed to be cross-examined, and you would really expect the questioning to be robust,” Weston says. “It’s quite subjective, but to me, the cross-examination was not over the top.”
Out of the defence’s seven points Weston believes the hotel gaffe is the one potentially genuine ground for appeal but even then she isn’t convinced it’s enough.
The defence is highlighting that the jury was mistakenly accommodated in the same hotel as police and some members of the prosecution. As a result, they say the integrity of the verdicts was “fatally undermined.”
“The strongest argument is the hotel issue but there’s no evidence there was any conflict or influence [from the prosecution on the jury],” Weston says. “It’s just potential contamination and I don’t know that that will be enough. It’s a reach.”
What will happen if Patterson is successful?
If Patterson’s appeal is ultimately successful, the Court of Appeal could overturn her convictions and order a retrial.
Patterson still has a way to go before that but Weston says the fact she has got to this stage means she has overcome the first battle. “She has been granted leave to seek an appeal which is the first hurdle,” she explains.
“They don’t grant appeals lightly,” she goes on. “It’s really hard even when there is strong evidence like in the Folbigg case. It will all be weighed up and this is a very high profile case but there’s nothing that jumps out at me that makes me think there is grounds for appeal.”
What is the prosecution appealing?
In what Weston says is a very unusual situation the prosecution in the case is appealing at the same time as the defence.
The Office of Public Prosecutions is calling for a life sentence with no parole. Patterson will currently be eligible for parole in 33 years when she is 81 and, given the gravity of her crimes, the prosecutions argues the setting of any parole period makes the sentence “manifestly inadequate”.
Weston agrees that 33 years seems like a short time given 25 years to life is the standard sentence for a single murder.
“No eligibility for parole is saved for the worst of the worst and she is a mass murderer of a most egregious crime. She literally sat and watched people knowing they were doing something that would result in a torturous death,” Weston says.
However the sentencing judge, Justice Beale, took into account that Patterson would likely spend most of her sentence in isolation for her own safety.
“14 days in isolation is seen as so detrimental to a person’s mental health that it is generally advised as the maximum time so 33 years in isolation could be seen as an already very harsh sentence,” Weston says.
“She would be 81 before being eligible for parole anyway and she might not even get it. She would have to demonstrate some remorse of which she has shown no evidence of so far.”
It means the prosecution’s appeal is also not an open and shut case.
“The law is a strange beast,” Weston concludes. “We will have to wait and see what happens.”
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