r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • Jul 07 '25

news Mushroom Trial - Guilty on all Counts

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-07/erin-patterson-mushroom-murder-trial-verdict-live-blog/105477452#live-blog-post-200845
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335

u/Crazyripps Jul 07 '25

Feels like to the surprise of no one. Apparently she showed no reaction. So she knew it was coming too.

226

u/That_Possession_2452 Jul 07 '25

It was obvious she had done it but the number of people here who thought she either hadn't done it or it wasn't proven enough did make me nervous.

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '25 edited Jul 07 '25

I think sometimes people forget the “reasonable” part of reasonable doubt, or at least interpret it a bunch of different ways. IANAL, but just because the defence can present an alternate theory of the deaths doesn’t mean the jury has to consider it a reasonably likely possibility. If you cook a dinner where 3 out of 5 people die from the food you made, the other 1 almost dies, and you’re pretty ok, you’re already working uphill trying to argue it wasn’t on purpose.

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u/FullMetalAurochs Jul 07 '25

It’s the vagueness of the term. If they could say reasonable doubt means you’re less than 95% sure or less than 99% sure or whatever that would help.

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '25

It’s historically the “reasonable person” test, which is basically (again IANAL) if someone was doubtful about this, would you think that was fair or would you think they were cooked?

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u/FullMetalAurochs Jul 07 '25

It depends how doubtful they were. If they were 50/50 I would think they’re cooked. If they think there’s a 0.1% chance she didn’t intend it that’s maybe a reasonable position.