An American woman is accused of killing three of her relatives and severely injuring another with a dangerous mushroom lunch, but her lawyer has dropped some of the charges.
After those charges were dropped, Erin Patterson won’t go on trial for the murder of her father.
She is still facing four works, including one of attempted murder.
The 50-year-old has often pleaded not guilty and has always been innocent. On Wednesday, the prosecution will start in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Three people, including Gail Patterson’s girlfriend Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Patterson’s past in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, died in hospital weeks after the July 2023 meal.
After receiving weeks of medical care, Heather’s partner, 68-year-old Baptist priest Ian Wilkinson, managed to survive.
The judge has given the judge guidelines ahead of the opening statements, which are scheduled for Wednesday. The judge has been chosen and is being received on Wednesday.
Justice Christopher Beale told the jury that the Director of Public Prosecutions had dropped the charges after most of them, if not all of them, and that most of them would have been aware of them.
He said,” You must put them out of your mind,” to put it another way.
He furthermore urged them to “dispassionately” measure the case’s evidence, using only their minds and not their emotions.
The trial is being held in Morwell, which is located about 60 kilometers ( 37 miles ) from Leongatha, Victoria, where prosecutors allege the meal was served.