In The Australian, Greens List member Mark Dean KC reflects on the difficult legal terrain navigated by Erin Patterson’s defence team during her high-profile murder trial.
Dean explains that criminal trials are not a search for truth, but rather a test of whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
He highlights the complex, often double-edged decisions defence counsel must make, including Patterson’s choice to be tried regionally, and her eventual decision to give evidence—an unusual but necessary move to explain her earlier lies to police and assert the poisoning was accidental.
Dean notes that Patterson’s defence was constrained by the inability to argue for a manslaughter verdict, in the context of public portrayals of her as a calculating killer. He ultimately raises broader concerns about fairness, perception, and the limits of the adversarial system.
Subscribers to The Australian can read the full article here.
