Even if you think the conduct makes her look guilty, it does not necessarily mean that the accused is guilty.
Lies one of the central themes in the trial of Aaron Pattison what lies did she tell and who did she tell them to? Aaron admits to telling some lies, but the prosecution alleges she told many more. Today, Justice Christopher Bill took the jury through what they should consider and what they should not consider when grappling with Aaron's alleged lies. During deliberations next week, I'm Brook Greebt Craig,
and this is the mushroom Cook. It's day thirty nine and the end of week nine of Aaron Patterson's murder trial. And I'm here with court reporter Laura Colsseller.
Hey Brook, and I will say, in the words of Justice Bill, that he udded today. Thank God it's Friday.
That definitely made me and the jury laugh. Justice Bill continued his charge today and finished making his way through the list of alleged incriminating conduct after touching upon the lies. Aaron admits to telling police about never having foraged from mushrooms and never having owned a dehydrator. He turned to a lie. She does not admit her alleged lie about being unwell in the days after the lunch, just.
Like he has over the last few days. He summarized the evidence of doctors and nurses from both Lee and Gatha Hospital and Monash Medical Center, as all of some of the other medical witnesses in this case, such as intensive care specialist Andrew Burston and forensic toxicologist Demitri Gurista Mulis. He reminded them that Erin testified that in the hours after the lunch, she binge ate a cake that Gail
had brought and forced herself to vomit. He then said that she told the jury she experienced frequent diarrhea later that night on July twenty nine, that continued into the following day. Justice Bill told the jury that she said she took a modium before or she drove her son to his flying lesson in ti Ubp but ended up having to pull over on the side of the road to go to the toilet in the bushes. She said she later stopped at a service station and briefly entered
a toilet to throw her soil tissues away. He also reminded the jury that Erin said she drove herself to Lee and Gatha Hospital on July thirty one because her diary was continuing and she wanted to see if they could give her some fluids.
Justice Bill turned to the arguments by the prosecution. He said the prosecution claimed that Aaron was not suffering at all and was feigning deathcat mushroom poisoning because she knew remaining healthy would give her away. He said the prosecution also argued that if Aaron had pulled over to go to the toilet in the bushes, her son would have remembered such an emergency stop. He added that the prosecution also questioned why she left hospital after only five minutes if she was truly unwell.
Justice Biale said that the defense argued that the prosecution had unfairly not called an expert witness to testify specifically about the symptoms of death cap mushroom poisoning. He said that the defense, though, had pointed to a research article referred to during the testimony of doctor Girista Mullis that said Grade one death cap mushroom poisoning did comprise gastro
like symptoms. Justice Biale said that the defense also argued that if Erin was lying, about vomiting after the lunch, she would have told the jury that she threw off immediately and could see Beef Wellington in her vomit. He added that the defense suggested that if Erin was also lying about being unwell, she would not have discharged herself against medical advice, but would have instead told doctors to pump her full of drugs to make her story more believable.
Finally, Justice Bill then gave his directions about the topic of incriminating conduct. He said there were two ways the jue could use the alleged lies if they found them to be lies. Here's what he said about the first way. These are his words, but not his voice.
The law says that you may use the accused lies to help you assess her credibility. If you find that an accused lied about something, you can use that fact to help you decide whether or not you believe the other things that the accused has said, whether those are things she said to the witnesses in the case or to you in her testimony. That is not to say just because you find that the accused lied about one matter, you must also find that she's been lying about everything else.
But you can use the fact that she lied. If you find that she did, to help you determine the truthfulness of the other things that she has said.
But Justice Beer warned the jury to not reason that simply because a person has lied, they must be guilty. He then turned to the second way the jury could use the alleged lies if they found them to be lie.
The second way in which you may be able to use one of the alleged lies which the prosecution relies on as incriminating conduct, is as evidence that Aaron Patterson committed the charged offenses, in other words, as implied admissions of guilt. You may only use evidence that Aaron Patterson lied in this way if you find that she did tell a deliberate untruth and that the only reasonable explanation for doing so is that she believed she had committed the charged offenses.
Justice Beale also gave the jury another warning. He said that if they find that Erin lied because she knew she had committed the offenses charged, they still must consider the rest of the evidence to decide whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. He also told the jury that the other alleged incriminating conduct that wasn't lies could also be used as implied admissions of guilt.
He then broke down all of the conduct into two sections, the conduct erin admits and the conduct she does not admit. When it came to the conduct she admits, Justice Beal reminded the jury that she accepts that she dumped her dehydrator, that she left hospital after only five minutes, that she factory reset phone B, and that she told lies in
her record of interview. When it came to assessing this conduct, he said, the jury must remember that Aaron told them that she panicked, that she had a history of hating hospitals, and that she was using phone B because phone A was damaged.
In summary, there are all sorts of reasons why a person might behave in a way that makes the person look guilty the accused, and yet not be guilty.
When it came to the conduct she does not admit, Justice Beal reminded the jury that Aaron denies lying about using the dried mushrooms in the beef Wellington, lying about feeding the leftovers to her children, and lying about being unwell, as well as other allegations put forward by the prosecution.
Justice Bill told the jury that if they find that Aaron did engage in any of this conduct, they must consider whether she may have done so because she feared being wrongly blamed for a deliberate poisoning or losing the custody of her children. He then turned to the topic of credit lies. He told the jury that the law draws a distinction between lies that formed part of incriminating conduct, which we have just been talking about, and credit lies. Here's what he said.
Credit lies, on the other hand, may only be used for that first purpose in assessing credit of the accused. If you were to find that the accused had told any other lies other than those lies that I've been talking about for the last month, whether to persons involved in this case or to you in her testimony, you may use those lies in assessing her credibility, but only for that purpose.
Justice Bial flagged that there were four credit lies alleged by the prosecution. The first, he said, was that Erin lied to police about being very very helpful during the Department of Health investigation. Those are the words she told
police during her record of interview. Justice Beale reminded the jury that the prosecution argued that Erin had not been very very helpful and knew she hadn't been because she had not told Senior Public Health Adviser Sally Anne Atkinson that foraged mushrooms may have accidentally ended up in the beef Wellington meal.
Justice Bill said he would summarize the defense's argument on this on Monday. He said he still has a bit to go with his charge, but he has broken the back of it.
He told the jury he expected to finish the remainder of his charge on Monday, before two jurors would be balloted off and deliberations could begin. But before the jury left for the day, he instructed them to not let anybody get in their ear over the weekend and recommended a media blackout. He then offered some words of encouragement before they walked out the door. He said they had been doing a great job and that they should keep going.
Now, just a little note for our listeners, because we are nearing the end of the trial, we won't have a subscriber episode on Sunday, but rest assured there will be more to come, but for now, go to the mushroomcook dot com dot au for more