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Hello, my name's Lisa and welcome to the Mushroom Murder Trial podcast.
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Before we launch into today's updates, head to my website, mushroommurdertrialcom, to sign up for our newsletter, which is free and just keeps you in the loop about everything that's going on, because this isn't over yet, and if you haven't yet, please subscribe to this podcast on your preferred platform so you never miss an episode.
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Now, in an unexpected twist in this high-profile trial, an investigation's been launched into the accommodation of the Erin Patterson jury during the trial in Morwell.
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Why?
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Because a hotel booking blunder placed jurors in the same hotel as members of the media, victoria Police and even legal counsel involved in the case against Patterson.
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But let's be clear there's no suggestion that anyone connected to Patterson's trial acted improperly, but questions are being asked by authorities about how this could happen.
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Now, this is my opinion.
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The trial brought masses of people to Morwell.
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I think something like this was always going to happen when you're in a regional town.
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Let's remember Patterson picked this town as well over having hearings in Melbourne.
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So it was the choice of the accused now convicted.
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But according to the reports in the nine newspapers, victoria's Juries Commissioner has now launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the hotel arrangements.
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When contacted for clarification, the Commissioner's Office referred newscomau to the Victorian Supreme Court and they declined to comment.
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So let's go back a little.
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This all happened in the final week or so of the trial and Justice Christopher Beale directed the jury to begin deliberations on the three counts of murder and the one count of attempted murder.
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Now, it's quite rare in Victorian trials, but Justice Beale made the decision to sequester the jury.
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That means they were no longer allowed to go home each night while they were deliberating on an outcome.
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They were placed under constant supervision and accommodated in a hotel.
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Justice Beale told the jury at the time, and I quote you will appreciate, I'm sure, that the reason for sequestering the jury once they have commenced their deliberations is to protect them from any interference or outside pressure whilst they're deliberating and to safeguard the integrity of their verdicts.
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I did a case years ago, like 20 years ago, about an armed robber, and what happened was that jury was not being.
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It was a district court case, but it was still a jury and they were not sequestered.
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And it turned out that the associates the criminal associates of one of the people up on trial they threatened the jurors, but not only that, they threatened the judge.
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So these things do happen.
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They're rare, but they happen.
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So that's why they go to all this effort to protect the jurors because you never, never know.
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Justice Beale continued while staying overnight at the hotel.
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The jurors will be supervised by court staff known as jury keepers I love that term.
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I am the keeper of the jury.
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The jurors' contact with the outside world whilst sequestered will be very limited Now, according to the Supreme Court of Victoria, the last time a jury was sequestered will be very limited Now, according to the Supreme Court of Victoria, the last time a jury was sequestered in the state was back in December 2022.
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So it's rare and it's clearly taken very seriously.
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But what wasn't anticipated was that during these deliberations, it would emerge that the jurors were staying in the same hotel as several members of the media and, most notably, detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall, the informant in the case.
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The issue came to light five days into the deliberations on Saturday, july 6th, when Justice Beale's tip staff became aware of it.
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Emails later released showed Justice Beale notified both the prosecution and the defence that day.
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Here's what he wrote, quote he also told me that there has been no interaction between them and the jury the jury have had a separate floor to themselves and have eaten their meals in a conference room.
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This sounds like my definition of hell, like if you're not in the conference room eating, you're not in the conference room eating, you're up in your room.
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And then they had to be careful about media.
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It's very weird.
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And then they weren't really allowed to talk to anyone outside the court and they were only allowed to talk about the verdict inside the jury room my definition of hell.
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I wonder.
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If they were allowed out to exercise.
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They would have to be, wouldn't they?
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Because they were locked away for six days or maybe seven.
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I shall check.
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So we're going back to it.
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But all guests used the same entrance at the hotel.
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And interestingly, he added, coincidentally, on Saturday night the jurors moved to a different hotel in a different town where they will be staying for the rest of this week.
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I understand that there's a shortage of accommodation in the district, but it's obviously undesirable for any of the parties or the informant to be staying at the same hotel as the jury.
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I wonder which one it was.
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I'll have to find out.
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That email was sent just before 8.30am on July 7.
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So it was six hours later the jury returned its verdict.
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I'm not making allegations against anyone, I'm just reporting it.
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So at 11.13am the prosecutors responded.
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They confirmed they had also become aware of the situation.
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Quote.
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We confirmed that the informant was staying at the hotel for the duration of the trial and we only became aware last Thursday that the jury had commenced staying there.
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The DPP went on to say the detective believed he was staying in a different wing of the hotel and was using a different entrance.
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Once he learned the jury was also there, he took steps to avoid any shared common areas.
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So the prosecution said when we became aware that the jury was staying there, we attempted to move everyone.
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But due to see this is the thing, they're not magicians availability issues in the area, we were only able to move counsel.
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We confirmed that the prosecution solicitors did not interact with the jury at any stage and also took steps to avoid any incidental contact in common areas.
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That's what the jury was told too.
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When people were going around getting their lunch or a coffee, if they saw someone who was involved in the trial, just stare past them.
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Okay, so that's that story.
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I'll keep you up to date on it.
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Now let's zoom out for a moment.
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Yesterday I was watching the criminal profiler, pat Brown, on YouTube and she was talking about mass killers because in relation to the Idaho 4 case and yes, she used that label, mass killer and that's what Erin used.
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Pat Brown said these killers are almost always motivated by the same thing control and power.
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They reach a point in life where they feel like they're failing, that their moment in the sun is never coming.
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It's a big motive, she said.
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They want that moment in the sun where they are finally freaking somebody.
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And while you could dig into their childhood, she said, even their career or their love life, none of that really matters as much as this Quote.
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They lack power and control in their real lives.
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So they asked themselves what's one way I can get that moment?
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Does that explain why Erin was running around like a chook, with her head cut off in her backyard with the media?
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I don't know.
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I just think it would have been smarter for her to just run straight back inside, but I got the impression, as a former media trainer, that some of what she said was rehearsed.
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You may disagree, but Erin was very focused on the media.
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Now can I tell you why?
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Because there was that leaked statement that she sent to the police that was leaked to the ABC.
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Okay, erin said it wasn't her.
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I wonder who it was.
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And there were three media stops in general the whole time.
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So there were two at her house and one in Melbourne with her lawyer where she said nothing.
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I don't know, is it her moment in the sun where she could play the ultimate victim?
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So I visited Pat Brown's website patbrownprofilingcom and one line stood out to me, website patbrownprofilingcom, and one line stood out to me, quote all murderers kill for the same reason.
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It benefits them because they gain a feeling of power and control, or they get back the power and control they feel they have lost.
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And while Brown's commentary is often focused on serial killers and yes, erin is a mass killer, not a a serial killer there are some relevant observations.
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Take this Some serial killers were abused as children and some weren't.
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A lot of the time that abuse story comes from the killer themselves.
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They're looking for sympathy.
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So unless it can be verified, take it with a grain of salt.
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But there is one common thread she does trust there's almost always dysfunction in the family home, something that made the killer lose empathy for others, something that turned them against society.
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Which brings us back to Erin.
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There are many sides to her, but what we do know is that her fascination with true crime wasn't just a passing hobby.
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She was obsessed.
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One case in particular the backpacker murders, ivan Malat.
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That name still sends a chill down many spines.
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Malat preyed on travellers along the Hume Highway south of Sydney throughout the 80s and early 90s.
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Now many people research serial killers out of morbid curiosity, but I was told Erin was genuinely terrified by Malat.
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So someone in the group recalled to me how Erin was once telling the group a story, one that really stuck with this person.
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I remember it vaguely too.
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It painted a picture of someone who didn't just consume crime, she lived inside it in her head.
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All right, here's the message, and I've been given permission to use this message.
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You know what I mean.
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Okay, erin was hitchhiking with her boyfriend before Simon to Melbourne One day after Malat took someone she was obsessed with.
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Him had all the books Clive Small.
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Clive Small was the chief investigator of the Backpacker Task Force.
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Only after the media release of those missing, and then the Millat trial, she realised how close she and her boyfriend had come to death.
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Now, while we're on the topic of toxic fascination.
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There was a great piece in the Australian by John Ferguson about how police told the court that Erin had 423 books in her house.
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I'm not judging.
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I have books as well.
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Well, I had a lot more until my backyard was flooded recently.
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Anyway, keep going.
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And they were duly catalogued as part of the investigation.
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And to borrow from the Demtel man, do you remember the Demtel man?
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That's not all.
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There were more.
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I think I've got a lot more than that.
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Patterson told the jury Many more, in fact, many books in the thousands that court heard.
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As Patterson was briefed on familiar and safe ground talking about one of her true love's books, nanette Rogers, for the prosecution, mentioned that among the books logged by detectives, there appeared to be none on the foraging of mushrooms or fungi.
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So that was the day they did that raid at Erin's the 5th of August 2023.
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And there were books in tubs and boxes in the garage.
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So that's fascinating.
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And also Erin did own a secondhand bookstore when she lived in regional Western Australia, so that's something to think about.
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I would suspect she has many more than those books and there's nothing wrong with that, but I would love to know how many were true crime.
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It's not the first time I've been told that she has many, many books.
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So also, I don't know if you know this, but according to the Australian John again, erin had other hobbies as well Childlike interests, unicorns and Legos.
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Now I know lots of adults play Lego.
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My friend Eduardo is an exceptional Lego person.
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He's won competitions.
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So no judgment here.
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But we're talking about Erin here and remember this from the trial, her son told the court she was playing with Lego the night of the fatal lunch and there's a phrase for that and it fits this the banalityality of evil, just sitting there playing away with your Lego.
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So I've found some research on poisoners and in the 80s psychologists and psychiatrists in the US found that convicted poisoners were often immature, isolated loners, people who faded into the background, unnoticed, unremarkable, until they weren't the moment in the sun.
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So that's all I have for you today.
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I am going to put up.
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So it's coming in Monday morning Duncan McNabb.
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We're talking about his new book on Erin Patterson.
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So that's exciting.
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So I look forward to that.
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Now I have a bit of exciting news for you to that.
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Now I have a bit of exciting news for you.
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I've now been monetized on YouTube and that's relatively difficult.
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I have never been able to achieve that on my other podcasts, so I want to thank you guys, because that is a huge deal.
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So thank you to everyone who has watched and commented.
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It's truly appreciated.
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So I hope you have a fabulous weekend.
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I'll be back very, very soon and don't forget to go to my website and sign up for the newsletter mushroommurdertrialcom.
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Thank you for listening and we shall chat again.
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Bye.