“It’s unprecedented. What we’re talking about is a middle-aged lady … planning and scheming carefully to poison four people who are her relatives,” he said. “It’s highly, highly planned and totally evil.”
There were 82 murder cases in Victoria between July 2018 and June 2023, according to the Sentencing Advisory Council. Of those, 9.8 per cent of killers were given life sentences, while 30.5 per cent were sentenced to 25 or more years’ jail. The shortest sentence handed down was nine years, while the longest was 36 years.
Along with Erin Patterson’s sentence, Beale will also issue a non-parole period. The longest non-parole period issued in Victoria between 2018 and 2023 was 35 years, according to the Sentencing Advisory Council data.
After the sentence is handed down, likely to be later this year, Patterson will then have 28 days to appeal either the sentence, the verdict or both.
“Because this is such a big, complex case, [the defence] may need a bit of extra time beyond their 28 days,” Papas said.
There are Victorian cases of murder that have attracted life sentences which Papas expects to be considered.
Robert Farquharson, the father convicted of murdering his three sons, was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years. Farquharson launched his third appeal last year.
James Gargasoulas murdered six people and recklessly endangered the life of 27 others when he ploughed a stolen car into pedestrians in Bourke Street on January 20, 2017. He was sentenced to life, with a minimum of 46 years.
If Patterson does appeal, three Court of Appeal judges will consider written and oral submissions from the prosecution and the defence. To be successful, Patterson’s lawyers would need to point to evidence of alleged errors or failures in the running of the case which amount to an unjust conviction.
A victory could see the judges order a retrial, resentence her or even choose to permanently stay the charges on the basis Patterson would not be able to receive a fair trial again – which would result in her release.
If she failed, she would be able to lodge another appeal in the High Court, but it would be much harder to overturn the decisions of two lower courts. Her only other avenue after that would be a petition of mercy, which, under Victorian laws passed in 2019, allows an appeal if there is fresh and compelling evidence that shows a substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred.
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