""Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony,""
""Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson's health, thereby devastating extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents,""
""We're thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and""
Erin Patterson received a life sentence with a 33-year non-parole period after poisoning four relatives with foraged death cap mushrooms. Three relatives—Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson—died after eating beef Wellington pastries laced with the mushrooms. Ian Wilkinson survived but spent weeks in hospital and suffered lasting health damage. The judge described the crimes as an enormous betrayal of trust that devastated both Patterson and Wilkinson families and deprived Patterson's children of their grandparents. Prosecution and defense agreed life imprisonment was appropriate; prosecutors argued against parole eligibility, while defense sought parole after 30 years.
Read at www.npr.org
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