"Woman Scorned" Betty Broderick denied parole

[Trixie]

Can't say I'm surprised...the only remorse Betty ever displayed was for herself and the way her husband treated her. Never for killing him. I guess even 20 years in prison didn't teach her how to at least pretend to be sorry. I don't think she'll ever get out.



Killer Broderick loses parole bid

By Greg Moran, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Originally published January 21, 2010 at 6:57 p.m., updated January 22, 2010 at 12:26 a.m.

In a case that captivated and polarized San Diego almost two decades ago, socialite Elisabeth “Betty” Broderick was unable to convince a jury or state appellate courts that she was not guilty of murdering her ex-husband and his new wife in their bedroom.

Yesterday, Broderick, now 62, could not convince the state parole board that she should be released from state prison and allowed to return to society.

It was Broderick’s first chance at parole after being convicted of second-degree murder in 1991 for shooting to death her former husband, successful medical-malpractice lawyer Daniel Broderick, 44, and Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28.

The five-hour hearing featured emotional testimony from Broderick, her children and Kolkena family members. Broderick’s children were divided: Two wanted her released; two did not.

Though Broderick at one point expressed remorse, the two-person parole panel all but shut the door on her ever getting out of prison. It denied her parole for 15 years — the longest possible term under parole rules — though she can apply again in three years if she meets certain conditions.

The parole commissioners said Broderick showed no repentance for the murders.

“Your heart is still bitter, and you are still angry,” said Board of Prison Terms Commissioner Robert Doyle. “You show no significant progress in evolving. You are still back 20 years ago in that same mode.”

The couple were shot as they slept in their home near Balboa Park the morning of Nov. 5, 1989. Betty Broderick never denied pulling the trigger. But at two sensational televised trials, she said she was driven to do it after going through a bitter divorce in which she claimed she was abused emotionally and psychologically.

Prosecutors painted Broderick as a vicious stalker bent on revenge against her ex-husband and the younger woman he had left her to marry. She left numerous obscene messages on his answering machine, and once was so enraged that she drove her vehicle through the front door of Dan and Linda Broderick’s home.

Others saw Betty Broderick sympathetically — as a victim of both a manipulative husband and legal system tilted against her. The story was the subject of articles, books and television movies.
All of that was of little concern to the parole board meeting at the California Institute for Women in Chino yesterday. It heard from 10 members of the Kolkena and Broderick families as well as Broderick, who gave a lengthy statement.

She denied, as she had at her two trials, intending to kill the couple but said she had violent thoughts as she went to the home.
“I had one choice: to shoot them or myself,” Broderick said she recalled thinking. “I couldn’t let them win.”

Broderick told the board that “my whole world fell off its axis” after the divorce and custody battle and that she wanted to kill herself. KGTV Channel 10, the news partner of The San Diego Union-Tribune, reported from the hearing that Broderick told the board she had “great remorse.”

One of her children, Kathy Lee Broderick, said she missed her father but told the board that her mother could come and live with her. “She should be able to live her later life outside prison walls,” she said.

But Kathy Lee’s brother, Daniel Broderick, said his mother was “hung up on justifying what she did” and should not be let out.
Broderick was tried twice. The first jury deadlocked in 1990, unable to decide whether she was guilty of murder or the lesser charge of manslaughter. After a second jury convicted her of second-degree murder, she was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.

The case still resonates within the San Diego legal community, where the elder Dan Broderick was popular. Linda Broderick had worked as his paralegal.

The decision to deny Betty Broderick’s request does not come as a surprise; few life-term inmates are granted parole by the board.
“She has never shown remorse. She has never acknowledged the consequences of her actions,” said Mike Neil, a close friend of Dan Broderick and a prominent San Diego lawyer.

“If she were released, she would be a menace to society, and I think she is capable of killing again,” he said.

The Betty Broderick trial occurred at a time when gavel-to-gavel TV coverage of such high-profile proceedings was still somewhat novel. It was the first case from San Diego televised live by CourtTV.

While Broderick remains in prison, some of the principals in the trial have moved on.

Then-Superior Court Judge Thomas Whelan, who allowed cameras in, is now a federal judge.

Prosecutor Kerry Wells, who tried both cases, is now a Superior Court judge in downtown San Diego. Wells was never comfortable with the publicity, and as a judge she rarely allows cameras into her courtroom.

Killer Broderick loses parole bid - SignOnSanDiego.com

[gas_chick]

Good. I agree Betty has never shown remorse even to her children. It has and always will be all about her.

[bellini]

I could never understand that case. I think she received something like $10,000 a month. It wasn't as though she was destitute. She was just furious over being dumped. It was really sad about her children.

It made a good Lifetime movie though.

[MsChiff]

LOL I agree, great Lifetime movie and yeah, she had it SO good! She couldn't stand losing to a younger prettier woman even though she was miserable with him.

[Laurent]

Betty Broderick is someone I never felt the least bit of sympathy for. Her husband may have been an asshole, but that didn't excuse what she did like she seemed to think it should.

[Trixie]

Yeah, I definitely think her husband was a major asshole, and tried to screw her in the divorce settlement, and flaunted his new young girlfriend--but I'm not sure it would have mattered. Betty felt he owed her, and leaving her was just not allowed in her mind.

It's really sad because she was a smart, attractive, college-educated woman who could have moved on and built a nice life for herself and her children. I think her son nailed it when he said she's still hung up on justifying what she did. Total narcissist.

[crumpet]

I may be her lone sympathizer, but that's okay. The fact that he let her work to put him through school then dumped her for a new model is just such an asshole cliche it's hard for me to feel all that badly for him.

[buttmunch]

I get where you're coming from. He was also in teh process of trying to take her kids away. It always appeared that she just completely snapped. I don't think she's a danger to society so I don't see the point in not granting her parole, other than to be vengeful. Hell, child rapists/killers get less time than this. And yeah, the man was a complete douche. He didn't deserve to die but maybe beaten with a golf club?

[LynnieD]

One of my FAVORITE movies! LOVED IT!!!

[McJag]

I think her husband was a "You can't stop me, I'll do what the hell I want" kinda guy & she snapped. Doesnm't excuse her killing both,but it can happen. I always wondered if his last thoughts were "Maybe I f***d up,here".

[buttmunch]

^^ I think he pushed her buttons every which way to Tuesday and sure, murder is kind of bad but I can sort of see where she was coming from.

[witchcurlgirl]

To paraphrase Chris Rock - I'm not saying she should have killed him, but I understand....

[Trixie]

He was also in teh process of trying to take her kids away.

Actually, he wasn't trying to take the kids away. She dumped the kids on HIM. Literally dumped them on his doorstep so he could see what it was like to raise them. One of the many bad moves she made during their divorce. I'm not sure if she even really tried to get them back. But she basically abandoned them.

And I do sympathize with her. Her ex was cruel and messed with her head, and there's only so many times you can poke the bear. I just think it's a little scary that after 20 years in prison, she hasn't gained any perspective and still seems to think she did the only thing she could under the circumstances.

[cmmdee]

Total crazy bitch. It's a good thing the parole board shut her down. It's a scary thought thinking this woman would be free to walk around with the rest of society. Gives me chills.

I just think it's a little scary that after 20 years in prison, she hasn't gained any perspective and still seems to think she did the only thing she could under the circumstances.

And that's why it's a good thing she's still locked up.

[buttmunch]

I just read a bunch of articles and he apparently successfully won custody of the kids, with her getting them part time.