Inside the jury room where Erin Patterson’s fate will be decided

How long will deliberations last, does the verdict have to be unanimous, and what happens if the jury can’t decide? Here’s everything you need to know.

Erin Patteron’s fate is now in the hands of a jury. Picture: Paul Tyquin

After 40 days, the fate of Erin Patterson is now in the hands of 12 jurors.

The jury retired to begin deliberations on Monday afternoon.

So, what now? And when can we expect a verdict?

What happens in the deliberation room?

We will never know.

Deliberations are strictly confidential. Jurors must not share what took place with anyone – even after a verdict has been reached.

During the process, jurors may ask questions of the judge or request to see certain evidence again.

Does the verdict have to be unanimous?

It depends.

In murder trials the verdict must always be unanimous.

For some criminal trials in Victoria, a majority verdict (11 out of 12 jurors) may be permissible if they are unable to agree after a “reasonable” period of deliberation.

However, a unanimous verdict is always preferable.

Jurors mustn’t discuss what took place with anyone. Picture: Supplied

What happens if the jury can’t decide?

In most cases, failure to agree will cause a “hung jury”.

Without trying to influence the jurors’ decisions, the judge may offer assistance to avoid that outcome.

But in the event the jury is unable to reach a consensus and a hung jury is declared, jurors will be discharged and a new trial will eventually be held.

Do jury members need to agree on the reasons for the verdict?

No.

Each member of the jury may have their own reasons for reaching their decision but these are largely irrelevant.

What matters is only that they all reach the same decision.

The sequestering process

Jurors serving on most trials will be able to go home each night, although they should not discuss the case with anyone but their fellow jurors.

In rare instances usually reserved for high-profile matters, the court will order a jury be sequestered during the deliberation process.

If this happens, jurors will spend the day deliberating at the court and be taken to a hotel for a break in the evening.

They will have limited or no access to phones and news sources.

The jury in the Greg Lynn murder trial deliberated for six days before delivering its verdict. Picture: David Caird

How long do deliberations usually last?

How long is a piece of string?

Juries can take as long – or as little – time as they need to reach a verdict, making it impossible to predict.

What we do know is that the shortest deliberation on record is one minute and took place in 2004 during the trial of Nicholas Clive McAllister in New Zealand.

Mr McAllister was found not guilty of cultivating cannabis plants.

The jury left the courtroom at 3.28pm and returned at 3.29pm, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The longest jury deliberation lasted a whopping 19 weeks (four and a half months) in a 1992 civil trial in California.

How long juries deliberated in high-profile Melbourne cases

The Supreme Court jury who delivered a split decision in the missing camper murder trial of Greg Lynn took a full six days to deliberate in June 2024, requesting to review some evidence before ultimately finding Lynn guilty of murdering Carol Clay and not guilty of the murder of Russell Hill.

It took a jury five days to convict Arthur Phillip Freeman over the murder of his daughter Darcey.

In 2011, a jury took five days to convict Melbourne father Arthur Freeman for the murder of his four-year-old daughter Darcey. Freeman was supposed to drive his little girl to her first day of school in 2009 but instead pulled over on the West Gate Bridge and threw her to her death as her two brothers – and a several witnesses in nearby cars – watched on.

In what was described as one of the “worst examples of mass murder”, James Gargasoulas pleaded not guilty to six charges of murder and 27 charges of reckless conduct endangering life after driving his car at pedestrians on Bourke Street in 2017.

Despite much of the horror being captured on video, a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in June 2018 after four days of deliberations.

However, a new jury deliberated for just 57 minutes in November 2018 before finding him guilty.

Can you be a juror more than once?

Yes.

Jury selection is a random process, meaning that even if you have served on a jury before you could be randomly chosen again.

However, the courts have discretion to grant exemptions to jurors from serving again for a period of time, particularly if they have sat on a lengthy trial.

The judge in the Jason Roberts retrial gave the jurors an exemption from ever serving again, while Justice Christopher Beale has told jurors in the Erin Patterson trial that they will be exempt for 15 years.