Supreme Court lifts lid on jury’s journey during mammoth Erin Patterson trial

It’s been a process shrouded in mystery, but the Supreme Court has now lifted the lid on the mammoth “journey” of the jury who convicted triple-murderer Erin Patterson.

The Supreme Court has lifted the lid on the “journey” of the jury that decided the fate of convicted triple murderer Erin Patterson.

Patterson was on Monday found guilty of the murders of her estranged husband’s parents Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson after a mammoth 10-week trial in the regional town of Morwell.

Fifteen jurors were empanelled on the first day of the high-profile trial on April 29, but with the media not permitted to observe, the process had been shrouded in some mystery.

But it can now be revealed that Patterson “challenged” three people, meaning they had been randomly selected to sit on the jury, but then booted off by the accused.

Of the 112 people in the jury panel, 28 asked to be excused, including:

21 people knew someone on the witness list or had particular knowledge about the trial;

4 people had medical reasons;

1 person had travel booked; and

1 person had caring responsibilities.

Convicted murderer Erin Patterson. Picture: David Crosling

Only one of these requests was knocked back by Justice Christopher Beale.

The Supreme Court on Friday released a wealth of information about the jury, including that the jurors were paid $40 a day for the first six days and $80 a day thereafter.

The jurors’ employers were required to pay the difference between this and their usual wages.

On the handful of days they were not required, the jurors were still paid and not made to return to their regular jobs.

In total, the jurors were paid about $3500 from the court.

Back in March, a roll of 15,000 people was requested in the Latrobe Valley district to cover five circuit sittings of the Supreme and County courts between April 28 and August 1.

About 7000 people were either excused, deferred, deemed ineligible or disqualified from this jury service.

Jurors were paid about $3500 from the court. Picture: Mark Stewart

From here, 1400 people were randomly selected from the remaining 8000 people and sent a summons to attend court.

By mid-April, 234 people – who had not yet been deferred or excused – confirmed they would be available for an eight-week trial.

In the end, 112 people made up the jury panel in Patterson’s trial.

During empanelment, their allocated numbers were put into a wooden box and Justice Beale’s associate would draw one out and announce the number and that person’s occupation.

If their number was drawn out and no challenges raised, that person would become a juror.

During the trial, one male juror was discharged for allegedly discussing the case with their family and friends and two male jurors were balloted off to bring it down to a dozen.

In a “rare” move, the jury was sequestered at local accommodation during their deliberations.

Erin Patterson’s legal team. Picture: Martin Keep/AFP

For the first six days, the jurors remained in their hotel rooms whenever they were not deliberating, being transported to and from court or eating in a private space.

“They communicated only with each other, the three sworn jury keepers, and briefly with family if they chose to make a supervised phone call,” a Supreme Court spokeswoman said.

But Sunday was a day of rest.

“The jury were taken to a winery for lunch,” she said.

“They used a private side entrance at the venue and were seated in a separate space.

“Food was served by the jury keepers and jurors did not interact with any members of the public or winery staff.”

The last time a Supreme Court jury was sequestered was in December 2022 for the trial of black widow killer Biannca Edmunds, while the County Court has not sequestered a jury in decades.