Erin Patterson, the Australian imprisoned for life for the deadly fungal meal, has submitted a legal challenge against the court's findings.
The middle-aged woman was determined to be culpable of causing the deaths of three kin and trying to kill one more individual with a poisonous fungal dish at her house in the Victorian region in that year.
According to Australian legislation, appeals are not an automatic right, and her defense lawyers needed to persuade the higher court that there could have been procedural faults in her trial.
Patterson's petition was filed on the start of the week, after the court gave her attorneys permission to dispute the verdicts.
The reasons behind the challenge remain undisclosed.
Claims of Innocence
Over the course of the lengthy trial, Patterson repeatedly stated she was not guilty, asserting that the incident was a dreadful mishap, and she had not intentionally included toxic mushrooms in the beef Wellington meal she cooked and served for lunch.
Her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and her sister-in-law Wilkinson, in her mid-sixties, passed away following the food.
The husband Wilkinson, a clergyman, survived after recovering from a coma, and continues to experience health issues related to the poisoning.
Court Finding
After seven days of deliberations, the twelve-member jury reached a unanimous verdict - guilty on all charges.
She was sentenced to a record-long incarceration periods handed down to a female criminal in Australia - life in prison, with no chance of release for over three decades.
That indicates Patterson is likely to be in her elderly years when she might request release.
Appeal Process
She now has the opportunity to dispute the court's verdict.
The twenty-eight day timeframe to lodge an appeal ended on October 6th, however a new procedural rule, giving legal teams an extension without having to provide reasons, allowed her attorneys additional time to lodge the paperwork.
Incident Information
There was significant public attention in the poisonous fungus incident, and extensive media coverage surrounded the small courtroom in the provincial area of that location while the case was heard.
During nine weeks of evidence, the court received testimony implying Patterson had foraged toxic fungi in surrounding areas and enticed those affected to the fatal meal using untrue assertions that she suffered from cancer - then seeking to cover up the offenses by providing false statements and eliminating traces.
Her former partner, Simon Patterson, had likewise been requested to the meal but backed out recently, partly because he thought that his wife had been trying to poison him over a long period.
Previous Incidents
After the court case, it became known that he had grown extremely sick post ingestion of multiple dishes she prepared previously that he fell into a coma, a large part of his bowel required surgical extraction, and his family had been told to bid him farewell twice as his recovery was considered unlikely.
Current Situation
Patterson is currently in a female maximum security prison - the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in that urban area.
When the sentence was delivered, Justice Christopher Beale stated to those present she spent 22 hours a day in her cell, with no contact with other inmates due to her high-risk prisoner designation.
The judge noted that Patterson's reputation and the extensive attention in the case suggested she might "stay as a well-known convict in the future, and, as such, continue facing substantial danger from other incarcerated individuals".
