I haven’t really followed the Mushroom Lady murder trial—unless you count skimming the headlines, which were so everywhere-all-the-time that I felt I basically absorbed the whole story by osmosis.
i wonder if it is just women doing (or not doing) these things that galvanises the masses like this? Is it mainly because women are stereotyped into the nurturing role in society so its a shock when they do something antithesis to that? Remember the "a dingo stole my baby"? Everyone was totally convinced she'd done it.
Saying that though, the beef wellington won't be able to be served without a joke or raised eyebrow for a very long time to come. Not only did those three people die, but she killed a well known dish as well.
Women poisonings always attracted media. In England famously had a period titled The Golden Age of poisoning between the wide availablity of Arsenic, Cyanide and Strychnine and the development of the Marsh test for Arsenic. Where many women were accussed of poisoning but could not be proved. One case I think where the women was found not guilty but the jury still thought she should tell them how she did it.
While I don't think she was innocent, there was a huge amount of casual misogyny both in the case and the reporting of it that lends credence to your query about the fact that it was a woman what allegedly did it driving fascination with it. I think also the fact that it was a poisoning, through something usually perceived as nurturing such as food, also heightened interest in the case.
I got most of my news from ms insomniac, who was essentially glued to it. I think she thought she was the smartest person in the room, planned the perfect murder until it wasn't, then started lying and denying everything and anything anybody said who could corroborate the evidence. I always thought she was guilty, and was more terrified of her getting off. Hopefully there are no grounds for appeal.
Never been called for jury duty. I'm correctly enrolled to vote and everything. It's kind of disappointing.
I will say, I very rarely check my mailbox, as I tend to expect notifications directly to my phone or email these days. Government departments that still send letters need to get their shit together.
I have been to court, just to watch, thanks to an aborted law degree. Pure fucking drama, the kind you can't get anywhere else. Go watch the criminal magistrates court on a Monday morning. Amazing stuff. Deeply disturbing and horrifying - as you watch people with no money being handed fines for thousands and thousands of dollars, perpetuating a cycle of misery etc.
But sometimes the legal system gets it right and people like Erin Patterson get locked up for the rest of their lives.
The coverage was almost impossible to escape here in Melbourne even my podcasts couldn't escape referencing it. Though I did enjoy the Science Show (or was it The Health Report) interview with one of the experts called to court, Chief mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Dr Tom May would said with mushrooms it was hard to choose the correct mushroom to poison someone else but very easy to pick the wrong mushroom and poison yourself.
While I wasn't obsessed with the mushroom trial the way some of my friends were, I did absorb a great deal via osmosis and my regular news podcasts having episodes on it. My understanding is that this particular jury WAS sequestered because of the high profile nature of the case and the risk of their judgement being tainted by the unhinged levels of media reporting and scrutiny on it.
A friend who was completely absorbed in the case also felt the prosecution had not made their case in proving she intended and planned to murder people, but also felt she was going to get convicted anyway 🤷♀️
i wonder if it is just women doing (or not doing) these things that galvanises the masses like this? Is it mainly because women are stereotyped into the nurturing role in society so its a shock when they do something antithesis to that? Remember the "a dingo stole my baby"? Everyone was totally convinced she'd done it.
Saying that though, the beef wellington won't be able to be served without a joke or raised eyebrow for a very long time to come. Not only did those three people die, but she killed a well known dish as well.
Women poisonings always attracted media. In England famously had a period titled The Golden Age of poisoning between the wide availablity of Arsenic, Cyanide and Strychnine and the development of the Marsh test for Arsenic. Where many women were accussed of poisoning but could not be proved. One case I think where the women was found not guilty but the jury still thought she should tell them how she did it.
While I don't think she was innocent, there was a huge amount of casual misogyny both in the case and the reporting of it that lends credence to your query about the fact that it was a woman what allegedly did it driving fascination with it. I think also the fact that it was a poisoning, through something usually perceived as nurturing such as food, also heightened interest in the case.
I got most of my news from ms insomniac, who was essentially glued to it. I think she thought she was the smartest person in the room, planned the perfect murder until it wasn't, then started lying and denying everything and anything anybody said who could corroborate the evidence. I always thought she was guilty, and was more terrified of her getting off. Hopefully there are no grounds for appeal.
Never been called for jury duty. I'm correctly enrolled to vote and everything. It's kind of disappointing.
I will say, I very rarely check my mailbox, as I tend to expect notifications directly to my phone or email these days. Government departments that still send letters need to get their shit together.
I have been to court, just to watch, thanks to an aborted law degree. Pure fucking drama, the kind you can't get anywhere else. Go watch the criminal magistrates court on a Monday morning. Amazing stuff. Deeply disturbing and horrifying - as you watch people with no money being handed fines for thousands and thousands of dollars, perpetuating a cycle of misery etc.
But sometimes the legal system gets it right and people like Erin Patterson get locked up for the rest of their lives.
I also have never been called for jury duty! So disappointing.
The coverage was almost impossible to escape here in Melbourne even my podcasts couldn't escape referencing it. Though I did enjoy the Science Show (or was it The Health Report) interview with one of the experts called to court, Chief mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Dr Tom May would said with mushrooms it was hard to choose the correct mushroom to poison someone else but very easy to pick the wrong mushroom and poison yourself.
While I wasn't obsessed with the mushroom trial the way some of my friends were, I did absorb a great deal via osmosis and my regular news podcasts having episodes on it. My understanding is that this particular jury WAS sequestered because of the high profile nature of the case and the risk of their judgement being tainted by the unhinged levels of media reporting and scrutiny on it.
A friend who was completely absorbed in the case also felt the prosecution had not made their case in proving she intended and planned to murder people, but also felt she was going to get convicted anyway 🤷♀️