Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter (1992) - full transcript
Betty Broderick stands trial for shooting her ex husband and his new bride.
- I did it.
I finally shot the son of a bitch.
- Betty.
Betty, where are you right now?
- I don't know.
- Betty, are you all right?
- What are you saying, mom?
I can barely understand.
Mom, mom, just...
No, no, come over here.
Just get over here as soon as...
We'll talk.
I don't know.
Can you come here, mom?
- Hello.
No, it's Tommy.
Yeah, hold on.
Jerry, it's Ms. George.
Tell her your mom is out.
- She wants to speak to you.
- Hey Caren.
Brendan Cross lived down the street.
I'll go get him, we'll go see
if it's true.
Dan.
- Hello.
Katie.
What time is it out there?
Maybe she'd just...
Have you called your
father to find out if-
Okay, honey, take it easy.
Let me call Kevin McDonald,
see what he can find out.
Where's your mother now?
Kate, be careful.
I know she's your mother,
but if this is true,
just be careful.
Hi.
Dead.
I know it has.
Too long.
Yeah.
Oh, I don't know.
Just time goes by, you know.
Anyway, is mother there.
Oh,
the kids are fine.
Look, I just want-
Yeah, I'm fine.
No, I'm not.
Dan's been driving me crazy.
Things are worse than ever.
I feel like committing suicide.
I just feel so awful. I just...
I don't think I can
talk anymore right now.
Tell mother
I called.
Yeah.
- We've got this.
Get our samples over here all right.
- Hello.
- My name is Larry Broderick.
I'm calling from Colorado,
trying to reach my brother, Dan,
who am I speaking with?
- This detective John Sorrell.
Can I help you?
- My niece just phoned me to
tell me that her mother claims
to have shot Dan and Linda
Broderick, is this true?
- Well, am afraid I can't
tell you about that.
- Look, please just tell me
if they were alive or not,
please.
- Well, I can't.
I have no way of knowing if you really are
who you say you are.
- Okay.
Okay, look.
What phone are you on? What room?
- Front of the hall.
- All right, look on the
table behind the phone.
There's a ceramic plate,
read the inscription.
If you're lucky enough to be
Irish, you're lucky enough.
Love Larry.
I'm Larry, please tell me.
I'm sorry, Mr. Broderick.
They are both dead.
- I don't know what to do next.
What do I do?
I don't know how this
happened, I really don't know.
- Here, that's tea.
Drink some.
- Thank you, girls.
I'm really sorry if I ruined your day.
I hope you didn't have anything
special planned, did you?
- Mom.
You have to turn yourself in.
Mom.
Will you listen to me?
- Brighten up, okay?
Mom.
I'll go with you.
You'll not have to be alone, I promise.
Okay, mom.
All this is gonna go away, I promise.
- Yeah, we'll be there.
Okay, bye bye.
Well, my lawyer is out of town,
but his partner will
meet us at 4:00 o'clock.
He'll take you to the police station.
- Okay.
Okay, Debbie,
can you go back to my house
and get my drawer box?
- Sure.
- Okay, and Karen, can you witness that?
- Sure, what is it?
- It's a makeshift will, but it's legal.
I just wanna make sure
that if anything happens,
these kids will get what's mine.
Kate, here's a check for $10,000.
I want you to cash it
and divide it equally
among all of your children.
They're gonna take this from me anyway.
But just hold on to them, okay.
Officer,
my name is Carey Steinberg.
This is my client, Elizabeth Broderick.
We have reason to believe she's a suspect
in a case you have opened.
She's turning herself in on those grounds.
And we have nothing further
to say at this time.
- It'll be your right.
- Mom, I can't find my flip flops.
Todd took my flip flops.
- I did not.
I did not.
- They're under your bed.
You can't wear them to school.
Now I put your Ninja Turtle
socks and your high tops
next to your closet.
- What would I want with your
stupid flip flops anyway?
- Dad, are my flip flops stupid?
- Absolutely not.
- Todd, where's your sweatshirt?
I laid it out for you.
- I don't need a sweatshirt, mom.
- No. It's supposed to get chilly later.
I can't find my shirt.
- They're by your closet.
- Hey, guess who just turned herself in
for fatally shooting her ex
husband and his new wife.
Where?
- They're by the skateboard.
- Can I wear my jacket instead?
- Yes.
Who?
The
highly publicized divorce saga
came to a tragic end Alli
yesterday when both Broderick
and his new wife were killed.
Many women and women's groups have rallied
around Elizabeth Broderick
in her lengthy struggle
against the former San
Diego bar president.
Mrs. Broderick has continually claimed
that her ex-husband's influence
made it impossible for her
to gain a fair settlement.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
- Have you heard about what
happened to Dan Broderick?
- It's all over the radio.
- Exactly.
She's very good at
getting public attention.
You want it?
- Thank you.
Have you seen the police report yet?
- Just came from there.
She snuck into the bedroom at 5:00 AM
and pumped three shots
into them while they slept.
- Sounds like a murder to me.
- Me too.
Now all you have to do
is prove it.
- Is it 16 years together
that never existed?
To simply walk away
and leave any sense of human
communication to your lawyer?
To your lawyer?
It's like he's saying to me
that I'm hardly even worth talking to.
Like I was less than human.
- Did you feel less than human?
- I felt alone.
Terribly, terribly alone.
He took our kids, our friends, our life,
and nobody helped me
fight to get them back.
I was forced to stand up
for myself and you know,
in the final analysis,
the only person my kids and
I could ever count on was me.
- Where are the boys?
- They're staying with Brandon and Leslie.
Ann took them all over the aquarium.
- I don't know, give him something.
Anything else to think about.
We'll take them over to my house.
- I appreciate your
taking them in Cameron.
- Okay.
- Dan would have done anything
for me, he's the greatest.
He's the greatest friend
you could ever have.
- She killed her children's father.
Her own children's father.
- Look, Tommy and Grant need their stuff.
Their clothes and things.
They're all over at Dan and Linda's
You're all right?
We've got to discuss
a funeral arrangement.
- Six months ago, we were
discussing their wedding.
- Yeah.
- Whoa, hold on fellas.
Back behind the line.
- Hello?
There's a Larry Broderick
on line three for you.
- I'll take it in here.
Hello, Mr. Broderick.
Actually, I was going to call you today.
I'm very sorry about your brother.
- Thank you.
I need to ask you a favor.
- Okay.
Well, I'm here
at San Diego and the boys,
Tommy and Grant, Dan's sons.
- I know.
- Right.
Well, they're staying with family friends
and they don't have any of their things.
Their personal stuff.
Anyway, I just went over to Dan's
to try to get him some things.
And the cops have the place sealed off.
It's still a crime scene.
- Yeah, I know.
I was wondering if you wouldn't mind
going over there yourself.
- I can do that for you.
Thanks, I'll
call you back later.
Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
- Guys.
This is Ms. Wells.
She brought you some things.
- Thanks.
- Carrie, do you know Kevin MacDonald?
- Oh.
- Hi, Kevin.
- Carrie Wells.
- I wanted my Chargers T-shirt.
- No, I think I packed it.
Oh, here.
- Wow, thanks.
My dad and I went to see them last year.
- Do you guys mind if I
talk to you a few minutes?
- Uh-uh.
- Uh-uh, no.
- Why don't we leave you
all alone for a while?
Is that okay with you?
- Yeah.
- I'm the district attorney.
- You'll be trying the
case against mom, right?
- Right.
I know this is real hard for both of you.
Real hard.
But I have to try and find out the truth.
Can you help?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
So were you surprised with what happened?
I mean the shooting?
- No.
- How come?
- She's always telling us she's gonna.
- She said some pretty bad
stuff about him and Linda,
they're some bad words.
- Like what?
- They're kind of embarrassing to say.
- And Ms Wells,
Will my mom be out in time
to see my soccer game?
- Those kids mean everything to me.
Do you understand?
Those kids mean everything to me,
everything.
And they've been away
from me for so long now.
They've got to grant me some kind of bail.
The kids need me.
I need them.
- I do understand, and I'll
make the judge understand.
I promise.
- I'm sorry, but it's hard
for me to trust lawyers.
Dan could manipulate the system so well.
He was best.
I've already had to fire
one incompetent lawyer.
- My name is Maggie Cole Kinasits,
and Linda Broderick was my sister.
Linda was loved by so many people
for so many different reasons.
She was funny,
she was thoughtful,
she was compassionate
and she celebrated life.
I would like you all to
close your eyes for a moment.
And think about the
last time you saw Linda.
I bet she was smiling.
- Kids, your father was devoted to you.
He persevered with you and for you
under unimaginable circumstances.
And because of these
bizarre circumstances,
which were not his doing,
it may be years before you're old enough
to fully understand the depth
of your father's feeling
for you.
And that he truly loved you.
From beginning to end.
- Your honor, we're not talking
about a flight risk here.
All she wants to do is
care for her children.
- Your honor,
Mrs. Broderick has violated
every restraining order
and every injunction that has
ever been put into effect.
She has demonstrated on
each one of those occasions
that she has absolutely
no respect for the law.
The public has a right
to be protected from her.
- I can think of no
reason why she would flee
or harm anyone else.
- I can.
She killed two people.
- Enough.
Mr. Byrd, you are not defending
a traffic violator here.
Ms. Wells,
the people will get their
chance to try Mrs. Broderick
at a later date.
This is a bail hearing.
Anything else?
After considering everything
each of you have said
this morning,
I could not in any kind of conscience
release Mrs. Broderick on bail.
The crimes, whatever they
turn out to be, are heinous.
I'm afraid she's going to
have to remain in custody.
Thank you all.
- Rather have her be my lawyer.
I need your help.
I'm all alone in here.
Dan's gone, but his influence
isn't, that's for sure.
Yeah, I get these kids out of law school
and the state gets Carrie Wells,
I mean that girl's sharp as hell.
So I need to find a way to get my story.
The real story out to the press,
and consequently for the public at large.
Mrs Broderick.
- Betty, please.
- Betty,
your case is very compelling to me, very.
- Thank you.
I realize that public relations
can be a very powerful tool,
especially when it's handled by a firm
as respected as yours.
So maybe you can finally be
the weapon that I've never had.
- Good, maybe we can change your luck.
- Great.
I have been stepped on so many times,
I should have "Welcome"
print across my forehead.
- I put the divorce records
you wanted on your desk.
- Oh, thanks Jim.
- Mrs. Broderick's a real piece of work.
- Tell me about it.
- Seen today's paper?
- I still haven't had a minute to.
- Get outta here.
A public relations firm.
A PR firm?
What is she? A movie star?
- Maybe we should put in
for a change of venue.
- To where?
- Hollywood.
- He always denied he
was sleeping with her
while we were still married.
I think that's what hurts so much.
He couldn't be honest enough to admit it,
even years later when everybody knew,
he always insisted it was my imagination,
that I was crazy.
- When did you last see your children?
- Just before I checked in her.
This used to always be
my favorite time of year.
Right about now, we would
just be getting back
from the USC game at Notre Dame.
Then a major Thanksgiving
feast at our house.
It's a real big to do.
I loved it.
All the activity and the excitement.
Dan took Linda with him
the last couple of years,
to the game.
She just
stepped into my life.
So
while you were pregnant
for the first time, you continued working?
- Yeah, but in those days
you had to cover it up.
I was teaching third grade.
I was the source of the family income.
I worked right up to
the day Kate was born.
We needed the money.
That way Dan could be the full
time student he needed to be.
And you told
me you lost the baby, right?
- Yeah, it would have
been our third child.
It was a very, very bad pregnancy.
I bled a lot and I was
sick the whole time,
but I kept working.
Well,
how soon after the birth
did the baby die?
- Two days.
Unfortunately Dan wasn't there,
he was off skiing with
a bunch of his friends.
I was all alone.
I'll tell you, a woman alone
is a woman without a prayer.
- You want to see this.
From Betty Broderick to me.
She feels she's getting
inadequate representation.
Can't get a fair trial.
So she's considering representing herself.
- Well, she knows the legal
system, I'll give her that.
- Might even get her a little
sympathy from a jury too.
- Woman alone against all odds.
- And proof positive, she can't
get a lawyer in this town.
- Come on, there's gotta
be someone in San Diego,
she can live with.
Doesn't there?
- And I promise you that Betty Broderick
will finally have her day in court.
Now, after my review of just
some of the documentation
in this case, I'm convinced
that she will be vindicated.
Mr Alli, what do you think
her defense will be, specifically?
- It's too Alli to tell you that,
but I will tell you this.
We're dealing with a woman
here who has suffered abuse
of the most violent kind at
the hands, her ex-husband.
For well over 20 years.
I've got to go, thank you.
- According to a marriage encounter,
run by the Catholic church in 1979,
to talk about what we want in
life and out of our marriage.
Dan apologized profusely.
Said he knew he wasn't the
kind of father and husband
that he wanted to be,
and that I deserved.
He knew it was a problem, but
he had these goals in life.
See, he wanted to be a very important man.
He wanted a big house,
he'd be very prominent, very rich.
He wrote about it all in the
marriage encounter journal.
He said that when he accomplished that,
then he can attend to being
a better father and husband.
- Did it ever happen?
- Oh yeah,
not with me,
with her.
They were even planning a family.
It's like he turned in
me for a younger model,
then make sure I never recovered.
It's almost like he forced
me to do what I did.
- Betty.
Do you see the implications?
- Of what?
- Your actions.
- My kids and I suffered a lot,
for a very, very long time.
And we didn't want it.
We didn't ask for it.
I really don't think we deserved it.
But we suffered just the same.
- Hotter.
- Get out.
- I'm telling you.
I can't attend an affair
without someone bringing your name up.
And I'm talking about the hairdressers,
the tennis club,
Betty, I was in line in the supermarket.
- Well, you got to be kidding.
- On the checkout line, two
women arguing your case.
They didn't know me.
They didn't know we were friends,
it's just on everyone's mind.
You've altered some female consciousness.
I'll tell you that.
Everybody's saying, just
be nice to your ex-wife.
How are you?
I mean, in here.
- It's the most humiliating
experience of my life.
- I'm sorry.
Listen,
do you need anything?
- Sleep.
I don't think I've had
a good night's sleep
for five years.
- Booze in graveside ceremony,
emotional terrorism,
victim of this and victim of that.
My God, my friend and his wife are dead,
and she pulled the trigger.
But she's being portrayed
as some kind of feminist folk
heroine when it's ludicrous.
- I can't control the media.
- You're controlling us.
What about our story? We were there.
We saw the way she harassed
my brother and her own kids
for the past five years.
Maggie could tell the press a few stories
and make a stone weep.
When does our site get to be heard?
- In court.
- Great.
In the meantime she'll be canonized.
- Look, it's my
responsibility to convict her
in a court of law.
That's 12 jurors, we have
to convince, not the press.
Do you understand?
- Look at this one,
New Zealand, Philippines,
this is New Jersey, all over the place.
Broderick.
- We were gonna come out
of the woodwork to say,
go for it.
- Hey, Broderick, let's go.
- Do you mind,
federal law says I'm
allowed my time in the sun.
- Your lawyer's on the phone.
- You should have said so to begin with.
I'll take that one.
Chatting away.
- Where's your wristband?
- I don't have one.
- You were issued one. Where is it?
- You're the only deputy that asks for it.
- Where is it.
- Ripped.
- I'll get you a new one.
- I don't need one.
Every deputy in this
hell hole knows who I am,
I get more than 200 letters a week.
I don't need to wristband,
I need a secretary.
- I'll get you a new wristband.
- Hey Jack.
- And you will wear it.
- So, when do we start?
- Well, Mr. Alli has finally been forced
to agree on a judge.
So jury selection begins in two weeks.
- When will you need the boys?
- I don't know yet.
Listen, I want to speak
to them one at a time.
- Okay.
Come on.
- We liked Linda a lot,
that's why we wanted to live there.
But I thought if Grant
and I went over to mom's,
she won't be mad all the time
and everything would be fine.
Seemed like towards the end,
she just wanted money more than anything.
Towards last year or so.
It's my fault.
I knew she had a gun.
She said she was gonna kill Dad and Linda.
She always kept it in her
pocket when he came to get us.
One time, he was on his way over,
and she says she was gonna
shoot him when he got there.
I begged her not to,
but she wouldn't listen.
And then dad honked the horn,
and I just like ran out and we drove away
and I looked back, I saw
mom standing on the porch.
She was smiling at me waving.
- The gun?
- I should have stolen it or
thrown it away or something.
I should have.
- Tommy,
believe me, there's no way
you could have done anything
to stop your mom from doing what she did.
- Welcome back.
- I'm not going to put
the boys on the stand.
They know things,
saw things that could help us out a lot,
but they are too devastated.
And if their mother is true to form
and causes some kind of a
scene at the trial with them,
they may never recover
from all of this as it is.
But at least maybe they've got a chance.
I'm just afraid to subject
them to any more torment
over this.
You know.
- Your call
and your instincts.
- And my butt, right?
- So what did you bring me?
- Well, I think you just start
out with that black suit.
- No black.
It's too depressing, and it's too tight.
- Okay. Well, that's what I thought.
So I brought the navy dress,
it has that awful low cut,
and also that top with a pleated skirt.
- The navy has a pleated skirt.
- No, the navy is straight.
- Have I been in this hole so long,
I don't remember my own wardrobe?
Thank you. Karen.
Maybe dressing like a human being again
will make me feel like one.
- Everything's just been pressed
and I told them to handle
it with kid gloves.
- Well with these jokers
it's like trying to tell a
puppy not to pee on the rug.
- I got to go.
- Okay,
see you in court.
- Get a ringside seat.
- This case, to put it in
the simplest terms possible,
is about hate, revenge and murder.
It is about Elizabeth Broderick.
A woman who for the past few
years has systematically,
continually and vengefully
tormented and harassed
her ex husband, Dan and his wife, Linda.
Her hatred knew no bounds.
Sometime near the end of October, 1989.
She said to Dan's housekeeper
that she wanted to make Dan
and Linda's lives as miserable
as she possibly could.
Referring to Dan, she said,
I'll either make his life a living hell,
or I'm going to kill him.
- When Elizabeth Beseglia married
Dan Brodrick back in 1969,
she believed in the concept of family,
of teamwork.
Now when they started out together,
they literally had nothing.
Dan was a student and Betty worked.
And over the next 10 or 12 years,
through nine difficult
pregnancies and four births,
Betty continued to work
to support her husband's pursuits.
All in the name of teamwork.
But by doing that,
Betty Broderick made a mistake.
Because not only was she
sacrificing her own comfort,
but she was losing a sense of herself.
She became totally defined by,
she totally identified with the marriage.
Lo and behold,
one day Dan Broderick,
who by this time was a
wealthy, powerful attorney,
decided to abandon his wife.
Why?
He had an affair.
So he left.
Oh, and when he left,
he took a few things with him.
He took their dreams.
He took their children.
Their money.
He took their life.
And by doing that, Dan
turned Betty Broderick,
his loyal wife for 16 years,
he turned her from this,
into this.
There were occasions
where he would hire security?
- Yes
He used to ask me and my
sister, how mom was doing?
Was she okay?
And we'd be the only ones to let him know
if he should get an armed
guard in from the house
when we thought mom was in a bad mood.
- What did they call her?
Fat,
disgusting.
The beast.
The monster on a warpath.
- And this was in front
of your little brothers
that they would do this.
- Yes, it was.
- Would you say that you and
Elizabeth Broderick were close?
- Yes.
Betty and I saw a lot of each other,
spent a lot of time together until
shortly before the tragedy.
- What was the defendant's
attitude about money?
- I'd say she worshiped it.
- Worshiped it?
- Betty is a very materialistic person.
She always has been.
- She did a lot of buying, spending?
- Yes.
Whenever anything went wrong, she'd spend.
She had catalogs from back East
that she could call Alli in the morning
and order stuff on her credit cards.
- Was this during the same time
she would complain to
you she had no money?
- Sometimes.
She complained that she
could hardly make ends meet,
and then the next week she
showed me something she bought.
- That's a lie.
- It seemed inconsistent, but
that was Betty.
- How would you describe the
defendant? What type of person?
Tremendously energetic
Just about the perfect mother.
- Was she someone who appeared
to be only interested in
spending lots of money on clothes
and such?
- No.
No, not at all that way.
- Did you have an opportunity
to visit the house
that she moved into in La Jolla,
after her separation from Dan?
- Yes.
- Can you describe for us
how that house was furnished.
- At first, almost like a newly
married person would do it.
No real furniture,
certainly not What I saw
at the Coral Reef house
when she and Dan were married.
- Do you know how she was sleeping?
- Oh, just on a mattress in a box spring,
not even a bed frame.
Hi, we're back.
I'm Laura Schlesinger.
And we're talking about Betty Broderick.
Now, she killed her ex
husband and his new wife
because she said she was
battered and abandoned,
but there are many with
a different opinion.
And I want to hear
yours. What do you think?
Okay, we've got Peter on
the line from Coronado.
Go ahead please.
Hi, Laura.
Hi Peter,
- you're on.
- Sorry,
let me turn the radio down.
You know, about this Broderick thing,
something like that
happened to me last year.
Your ex-wife shot you?
No we went
through a really bad divorce
and everything.
I think that Betty
Broderick has had bad deal.
How do you say that?
Well, I mean she worked hard,
she put her husband through school,
and he dumped her for his bimbo secretary-
- wait
a minute, wait a minute-
- He makes a lot of money,
and he doesn't want to
pay any child support-
- He owed
her the rest of his life?
Well, she's got
to stand up for herself.
These are extenuating circumstances.
- Do you recognize these keys?
- They're mine.
- And how did you lose them?
- My mom was dropping
me off at my apartment
after work one day and
I walked up to my door
and my keys were gone.
I asked her if she'd seen
them, and she said no.
We even searched her car for them.
- She helped you look for them?
- Uh-huh.
And then we went back
to her house and looked.
Did you find them?
- No.
- Did you ever after that,
come to know where they were?
- No.
Well, yeah,
after it was too late.
- So then not before November 5th?
No.
- You ever lose them before?
- No, they were kind of
a big deal to my dad.
We were supposed to guard
our keys to his house,
like with our lives.
He didn't want mom to have them.
- A classic situation,
the husband's denial of the
affair only compounds the damage
and trauma he's already caused the wife.
And how would that
make her feel, the wife?
- She'd feel a tremendous
amount of resentment, hurt,
and of course, anger.
- Doctor, in your opinion,
do you think that the legal
war that Dan Broderick waged
against his wife in divorce court-
- Objection, your honor,
the witness has no firsthand knowledge.
He never even met Dan Broderick.
- Sustained.
- In your opinion,
as a family counselor of,
how many years did you say?
- 15.
- Right.
Looking at Mrs. Broderick
and the supporting data,
Would you say that Dan
Broderick was a wife batterer?
- Well, my expertise is domestic violence
and based on what Mrs.
Broderick has told me,
she was physically, sexually
and psychologically abused
by Mr. Broderick.
- Is this a check Dan wrote
for your leased car for $398?
- It was really his car
that he allowed me to use.
- Is this a check for
$2,000 cash made out to you
on March 15th from Dan?
- Yes.
- And do we have here $445 to I Magnin's,
$550 to Saks,
Neiman Marcus,
do you shop at all those stores?
- I shop everywhere.
- What about $3,000 to American Express?
- That's when the kids
were living with me,
that was for the kids.
- So Dan was paying the
children's expenses then?
- He was paying the bills, yes.
- Could you identify this?
- The check made out to me.
- From?
- Dan.
- For how much?
- $3,000.
- Did you write this
little note at the bottom?
"Thanks sweetie."
- Yes.
- Okay.
This is a $9,000 check
made payable to you.
Is this part of the
system of monthly payments
that Dan set up for you?
- I guess so.
- Lights, please.
Now it was during this period of time
you started vandalizing
his home, didn't you?
- Yes.
- Okay.
So in addition to paying all the clothing
and car leasing bills,
in addition to paying a $9,000 a month,
and in addition to purchasing for you
a $650,000 Ocean View estate in La Jolla,
Dan was also paying home insurance
taxes, medical insurance,
car insurance, and income taxes,
while you continued to vandalize
his home, is that correct?
- Right.
- Right.
- Mrs. Broderick,
can you remember the first
year that there was money
from Dan's business?
Where money was no longer a problem?
- The first year we could
actually meet our bills
and go on trips was 1982.
And he started buying me fur
jackets and jewelry and stuff.
- How did that feel?
- Oh, we were celebrating,
both of us literally celebrating.
- And did you end up going
to Europe at any time?
- Yes.
Another lawyer had referred a case to Dan
that turned out to make us a lot of money.
So to say, thank you,
Dan thought we should take the
lawyer and his wife with us
to Europe for three weeks.
So we did.
Five star hotels and restaurants,
everything all on Dan.
- During that period of time,
did Dan's demeanor,
his attitude change in any way?
- Dan was always under a lot of pressure,
mostly self-imposed.
So when we went to Europe
and he was unusually quiet,
not mirth filled, as he was on vacations.
I attributed it to pressure.
Though I did think it was a bit odd.
- Now, when you all got back home,
did Dan's demeanor, the
way he talked about you,
the way he talked to you,
did that change at all?
- We were in a car on the way
to a very important wedding.
And all of a sudden he started telling me
that he just wasn't happy with anything.
Not the children,
or the cars, or the house.
Our social life, our friends,
me.
- You?
What did he tell you about yourself?
- He said it was my fault
because I was old,
fat,
boring, ugly, and stupid.
He just wasn't having any fun anymore.
- What were you like back then?
- I was 35.
I wore a size eight,
which for someone my height
can hardly be called fat.
So what did you do?
- If your husband is telling you
that you don't please him anymore,
then you try to do whatever it is better.
So I tried to be better.
I lost weight.
I let my hair grow long the way it was
when I was in college,
I tried to get rid of wrinkles
that weren't even there.
There was a tiny little
millimeter of a crack in a tooth,
I fixed that.
I tried to be perfect,
absolutely flawlessly
perfect for Dan Broderick.
Well, they've been
deliberating for six days
for God's sakes.
What could they possibly be arguing about?
Jerry, if I have to spend
one more day in this dungeon,
I'm just going to...
Oh, I mean this place makes me sick.
The other day one of my goon
deputies ransacked my room
when I was in court, threw
everything all over the place.
What was she looking for?
I asked to talk to the
Captain, the Lieutenant,
the Sergeant, I was refused.
It's not right.
It's just not right.
- Have you ladies and
gentlemen reached a verdict?
- We have not, your honor.
We are unable to come to a
unanimous decision at this time.
- Have you discussed
every possible option?
- We have your honor,
I'm very sorry.
- So am I.
Has there been a consensus
as to whether further deliberation
might break the deadlock?
- There has, your honor
and we unanimously feel
that it would not help.
- This is good.
- Then I have no choice,
but to declare a mistrial.
Quiet please, I thank
you for your efforts.
I know you worked very hard.
Meantime counselors,
I'll set a new arraignment for two weeks.
Hence at which time we will
schedule another trial.
Court's adjourned.
- Thank you Jerry.
Mr Strong, is it true sir
that the vote was 10 to two,
but you were the hold up on the jury?
- Sure it is and I'm proud of it.
Can you
say the overriding thing
in Mrs. Brodeick's favor
as far as you're concerned.
There was no
one thing in particular.
Well, can you tell us
if you think she was justified
in shooting Dan and Linda Broderick?
- No.
I can't tell you this much.
I don't know what took her so long.
- I just don't know if I
want to disrupt my life
for another whole year.
The last time really consumed me.
My kids are a year older.
I feel 10 years older.
I can't recall ever getting
so personally involved,
and I know that can't be good.
- Well, you put on a fine case.
Who could ever predict a jury?
- You're going to
communion services today?
- It's Sunday, isn't it?
- Take your religious materials.
- I don't need them.
- Hands on waistband, Broderick.
Broderick, I said hands on waistband.
- Lest you've forgotten,
I've not been found guilty of anything.
I had a jury eating out of my hand.
- As you know prisoners required to walk
with their hands on their waistband.
Halt.
- What do you want from me?
- I want you to follow the procedures
like everybody else in this place does.
- You really get off on this
authority bull, don't you?
I want to talk to the Captain.
These guys would not let me go to church.
You hear me?
- I haven't interviewed Betty myself yet,
just gathering opinions
and such at this point.
- Well, I think what
Betty did was courageous.
- Care to elaborate?
- She had to do it to get attention.
No one would listen otherwise.
Betty has done something real
important for scores of women
in this country.
And now that 2020 and People
Magazine have contacted her
about future interviews,
and with your magazine
publishing her story,
that's national exposure.
Which means that maybe
the next Dan Brodrick
would think twice.
- I imagine he will.
- Look, I know it was extreme,
but sometimes you need a
little "prairie justice".
- Steve.
- What?
- I've decided to take a second trial.
- I think that's great.
- You don't.
You think it will be another year of hell.
- What do you mean, it won't?
- Of course it will.
If I don't take it, it's like she's won.
I keep thinking of all the time I've spent
trying to protect real
battered and abused women.
The ones whose husbands won't leave.
The women who have no choices.
And then I think about Betty Broderick.
There is not one shred of evidence
that he ever laid a finger on her.
She's a fraud.
And I can't just walk away.
- Natalie Parker.
- Hi, Betty.
- Hi.
I didn't know you were coming,
I'd have fixed my hair.
- Oh, well it's okay, really.
Hi.
- Hi.
So where do we start?
- Well,
I'd like to ask you
what you think about the fact
that some people are applauding
your courage and bravery?
- Some people think I'm a
feminist, but I'm no feminist.
I had my house and my
sandbox and my swing set.
I was the ultimate suburban
housewife, I loved it.
I had exactly what I wanted,
until the nightmare began
- The legal battle?
- The battle.
It was a massacre.
I didn't stand a chance.
I was an opponent.
He buried me in legal papers.
- Filled an entire room in my house
fighting this legal mumble jumble,
most of which is Chinese to me,
Like his famous bifurcation order.
- Meaning?
- A bifurcation order is a way
of obtaining a legal divorce
without having to settle
the property and custody
and alimony issues.
I call it a by fornication order.
It's a way of legally screwing
your wife and your girlfriend
at the same time.
- Karen George says,
there are times when
women need to take the law
into their own hands.
What do you think?
- You know I can't answer that.
You know what the answer is.
Thank you Natalie.
- All set.
Reservation's for 12:30.
What's up?
- I just got a call from Jack Alli.
He wants to make a deal.
He's willing to bargain a 20
year prison term for Betty.
- In exchange for what?
We drop the murder charge.
- What do we call what
she did to the deceased?
Criminal mischief?
- They'll accept voluntary manslaughter.
- Look, I think we've got to ask ourselves
what we're after in the long run.
If it's to get her off the street,
then we have to consider his offer.
- I want to put her away.
And if I don't convince
a jury this time around
and end up dead locked
again, she could walk.
Which would be a real tragedy.
- Well, 20 years with good conduct.
For argument's sake.
We're looking at a scenario
where she's out in 10.
- Still, my problem is the message.
We are saying to the world, it's okay.
It isn't murder.
And that scares me a lot.
- More than if she walks?
Carrie, Jack
Alli is returning your call.
- Okay, Barbara, put him through.
Yeah, Jack I'm here.
So we're bargaining
this thing or not?
- I'm afraid not, Jack.
We'll see you in court.
- Okay, so you'll come back right?
- Can you shove down, I'm
falling off the bench.
- Lose some weight.
- Shove down.
- Shove this.
- You'll let her get away with that?
- Yep, she is.
Ain't no TV round here now.
Today, you're just another sad
ass locked up bitch like us.
- I am nothing like you.
- Okay, you two, that's enough.
- You two?
Are you blind or just stupid?
- Relax, Broderick.
- Relax.
How am I supposed to relax?
You wouldn't chain a dog like this.
- Bus boarding.
Lets go.
- Don't help me up.
- I'm gonna write you
up for that, Broderick.
Maybe a couple of days in lockdown
reminds you where you are.
- How could I forget?
- You best start behaving
your butt in here.
Could become home sweet
home for permanent.
I heard that hang jury had 10 against you.
Almost too close for comfort, ain't it?
- We got her psychiatric records.
- Oh, nice work.
And what are you hoping to find?
- I'm not sure.
Just that she must have said some things
to those psychiatrist that
she's twisted around since.
If I know what they are, I
can impeach her testimony.
- How soon can you have access?
- I'm on my way to Jack Alli's office now.
- Hey guys, we're going to move Betty.
Okay, time to move out.
- Move out where?
- Your little tantrum
yesterday earned you two days
in lockdown starting now.
Come on.
- Nobody told me.
- We give you verbal unwritten notice.
Now get off the bunk
and let's hustle it up.
- I'm not going anywhere.
No, get your hands off me.
- Okay, we're going to
do this the hard way.
Grab her hands.
The turmoil in
Elizabeth Broderick's life
continues as she struggles
here with deputies
at Las Colinas Women's Detection Center
outside San Diego, California.
She had a story book
marriage, money, mansions,
a beautiful family.
Dan Broderick was a powerful lawyer.
Betty Broderick was a supermom
and country club socialite.
Then it went tragically wrong.
A vicious divorce.
Dad married his beautiful young assistant
and Betty got a gun.
Did she murder in cold blood?
Did he drive her to it?
Don Huddle has the exclusive interview.
Watch "America Reports" Friday at 10:00.
- I'm just so confused.
I know my mom's a criminal,
a murderer.
And there are times I lie there
and I still can't believe my dad's gone.
But then sometimes I think
what the hell am I doing?
Testifying against my own mother?
My sister's barely speaking to me.
- Sorry about that.
- And my mom-
- Thinks you're a traitor.
- Worse.
After the first trial,
she told me that I was a marked woman.
What am I now, in her hit list?
- Kate, look,
your mom's not well.
She's not insane under
the legal definition,
but she definitely has been
out of control for a long time.
If we could get a conviction,
and some professional help
for her while she's in prison,
maybe she'd finally come
to some kind of terms
with what she's done.
Meantime, you have to
move on with your own life
and not worry about being
on anyone's hit list.
- Yeah, I know.
I know.
I heard that court TV is
gonna be there this time.
I don't want to testify in front of them.
It's too much.
It's like the whole world,
all your friends, strangers,
they're all watching you when
you're the most vulnerable.
I mean it's everywhere.
Prime time, magazines,
it just keeps growing.
- I'll talk to Judge Whelan.
See if I can get the cameras barred.
- You have to.
- And if I can't?
- I'll do what I have to do.
- Elizabeth Broderick wants very badly
to be viewed in this
case, not as the killer,
but as the victim.
Unfortunately for her,
the evidence will show that she distorted
and exaggerated the
events to such a degree
that even her own children recognize it.
So before even one
witness takes the stand,
I want to take every
pertinent detail of this case
and give you a Elizabeth
Broderick's version,
then contrast it with facts.
- So what he really did
when he left that day,
when he walked out on this woman,
who held his marriage
together all those years,
what Dan Broderick
really did to his family
was to smash it.
And shatter their dreams.
- Would have worked the first time.
"There is no better
reason for someone to kill
"than to protect their
home, possessions and family
"from attack and destruction.
"You have attacked and
destroyed me, my home,
"my possessions and my family.
"A law degree does not give
you immunity from punishment.
"No one will mourn you.
Your mother wrote that in
her diary, is that correct?
- Yes.
- Was your father attacking
and destroying you
and your possessions and your family?
- No.
- Was he attacking and destroying
your mother's possessions
or person?
- No.
- How did he treat all of you?
You kids.
- Very well.
He wasn't too good at the
fathering stuff at first,
but then he got better.
He tried real hard.
He was very interested in our school.
Always helping us with our homework,
talking to our teachers.
- Were you or Tommy or Grant or Debbie
ever afraid of your father?
- No.
- How do you think he
felt about you overall?
- He loved us.
I know that.
We all know that.
- Kate, I'm going to play a tape.
It is your mother having a conversation
with your brother Grant.
You've listened to this tape, correct?
Yes.
- And did you recognize
it as a taped conversation
on your father's answering machine?
- Yes.
Why a child whore, Dan?
And what is it about the
bitch that turns you on?
It's certainly not her
intellect, she has a moron.
She's an all for sex simplistic
piece of poor white trash.
You're with the slut now, Dan.
Probably, huh.
Mom, it's me, Grant.
Hi, Grant.
Hi sweetheart.
How's my baby boy? Are they
treating you all right?
Yeah, mom.
'Cause if they're not,
you can come live with me.
Would that be fine?
Yeah, mom.
But you've got to stop leaving messages
like this all the time.
It makes me feel
talking about Linda and Daddy.
like to hear certain stuff.
Sweetheart,
there's worse things in
life than being embarrassed.
I didn't cause this, your daddy did.
But mom,
all you care about is just stupid money
and getting in at Linda.
You are always mad at everything.
You never say anything nice anymore.
Nice?
Who's not nice?
Your father, that's who.
Your father dumped your
mommy for a 12 year old.
That's nice?
You little traitor.
Who put you up to this?
The slut or the pervert?
Who? Tell me Grant.
Tell your mommy.
Grant, talk to me.
Please talk to me.
- Do you remember testifying
at the first trial
that you thought your mother was crazy
when she told you your dad was
having an affair with Linda?
- I don't think I said that mom was crazy,
but I didn't believe that there was one.
- You talked about it with
your father though, didn't you?
- About him having an affair with Linda?
- Yes.
Before your parents separated.
- No, I did not.
- Really?
- Well, do you remember my asking you
if Linda's name was brought up?
- No, I don't remember.
- Would you please read
pages 339 through 340,
line 26 through one.
Does it not say,
and I quote "You and I had
an earlier conversation
"in which you indicated to me
"that you thought your
mother was a little bit crazy
"because she talked about
an affair with Linda.
- Yes, that's what it says.
- So, now do you remember?
- Well, I see it now,
but I don't remember it.
- You don't remember?
- I don't remember being
asked that in particular but-
- You do remember testifying
at the first trial, don't you?
Don't you?
- Yes, Mr. Alli.
I've done a lot of things
in between then and now.
And I don't remember exactly
everything that I said.
- Well, I assume that at that time,
you were being as truthful as you could.
Weren't you?
- I'm trying to be truthful now, Mr. Alli.
I'm trying.
I'm trying.
- Dr. Kurtz.
Could you tell us what you found
with regard to the
defendant's mental state?
- I found a great deal of evidence
consistent with opinions
that others had reached
that Mrs. Broderick is not mentally ill.
But rather she suffers from
a personality disorder.
Specifically a narcissistic
personality disorder.
- Can you tell us how a
psychiatrist would determine
whether somebody has such a disorder?
- Actually, there are
nine characteristics,
but we diagnose people as narcissistic
if they have five of those nine.
- What did you find
regarding Mrs. Broderick?
- I found evidence of all nine.
For instance.
- Well, the first criterion
is narcissistic rage
in response to criticism.
Examples in Mrs. Broderick's past,
include throwing things at Dan,
locking him out of the house,
burning his clothes,
bashing her truck into his front door,
her repeated homicidal threats.
All of this reflects a narcissistic rage
of someone who perceives
severe criticism of herself.
- What is the second criterion?
- That would come under the heading
of interpersonal exploitation.
That means, for example,
the way she manipulated her children
in her quest for revenge.
She used them as pawns against Dan,
without thinking about how this
would affect the children themselves.
All this is corroborated in statements
the children gave to therapists
and the telephone tapes.
Mrs. Broderick is an intelligent woman,
who even acknowledged
reading books on divorce
about the effects of this
kind of behavior on children.
But it was more important
to her to hurt Dan and Linda
than to prevent the possibility
of harm to her children.
- Does your review of all the materials
in the defendant's case file,
show her to be suicidal?
- It does not.
In many ways, Mrs. Broderick
is too narcissistic
to kill herself.
Narcissists have difficulty
harming themselves
because they hold themselves
in such high regard.
All her repeated threats
were threats of homocide,
not suicide.
- Not suicide, homicide.
Thank you.
- Paramedic
- What?
- Take me to the infirmary.
- You're sick?
- No, I'm not sick.
I got to testify tomorrow.
I got to do my root.
- No. Sorry, infirmary's for illness,
it's not a beauty parlor.
- Hey.
Hey, captain knows about this.
Hey.
Hey, come back here nazi.
Come on.
- Let's talk about custody.
- I never got any.
- Right.
Didn't you tell your
psychiatrist, Dr. Farrellson,
that you did not want your children
until you were assured
of your social standing.
- Exactly.
Right, I had no security.
I was too nervous to take
them on with nothing.
And I had nothing.
Nothing at all.
- You had been living in a
$650,000 house for 16 months,
correct?
- Yes.
- You had three cars.
- Maybe.
- But you wouldn't seriously
discuss custody, would you?
- Dan wouldn't let me.
He held out to the end.
- Right.
The famous letter.
- Objection, your honor.
Argumentative.
- Sustained.
- You testified that the
last letter Dan sent you,
on November 3rd was the one
that drove you over the edge,
and led to the events on
November 5th, correct?
- Absolutely.
Was another threat.
Another insult, another
reference to my mental illness.
- Your honor,
I would submit this
enlargement of that letter
as people's exhibit 278.
Submitted.
- In fact, the letter
is not from Dan to you,
but from his lawyer to your lawyer.
- Same thing.
- Not really.
In fact, Dan had offered
you custody of the boys
just the week before.
This letter was simply a response
to the latest barrage of obscene
phone messages, was it not?
- I was very upset, defeated.
The only weapon I had was my mouth.
- All this letter actually
is, as you can see,
is an admonition,
a plea, really, to your lawyer
to get you to stop the obscenities
and to get on with the custody deal.
Is this what you were telling
us drove you over the edge?
- It was another warning.
It was all in his hands.
- Okay.
He drove you over the edge.
So you decided to drive
yourself over to his house.
- I decided to drive to the
beach, I needed some air.
- But you didn't drive to the beach.
You drove to Dan's house in
order to, you testified earlier,
kill yourself in front of him.
- Yes.
You had your gun.
It was in my purse.
You had Kate's keys.
I didn't know they were Kate's.
So you picked up the keys,
took the gun out of the purse
and snuck into his house.
In order, you have said, to confront him.
- To talk to him.
- Your word was confront,
and you didn't want him to
hear you come in, right?
- I didn't want him calling the police
before I got to talk to him.
- Why the gun?
- To make him listen.
- A show of force, correct?
- Yes.
- So this had nothing to do
then with killing yourself.
- What?
- You stated you wanted to kill yourself,
that's a very different thing.
- No, the reason I wanted the gun...
I wanted to make him hear me out.
And if he didn't, I was gonna kill myself.
So you went into the house,
snuck up the stairs, very quietly,
and went into the bedroom.
And then what happened?
- I don't really remember.
Someone moved, I heard
a voice and it was over,
just like that.
I couldn't see anything, it was dark.
- Well, this time you testified
that Linda said call the police.
But last time you testified
that you don't remember
anybody saying anything.
Which is it?
- I don't really...
It was just an impression I had the...
It happened too fast to remember.
- You did see Dan and
Linda on the bed, correct?
- I have no recollection
of having seen them at all.
- Well, how do you know
if Linda or Dan moved,
if you couldn't see them?
- That was an impression
I had at the time.
- Well, you can't have an
impression of something
unless you saw it.
You testified that
Linda moved towards Dan,
and Dan moved towards the phone.
Did you see that or not?
- That was my impression.
Did it happen?
- It was a blur.
- Okay.
Why did you start shooting?
- I panicked.
You brought the
gun as a show of force,
to-
To talk.
To make him talk
to me.
- To make him listen.
And yet you didn't use it to show force.
You didn't use the gun
to say, hold it buster,
I want to talk to you.
You're just shot.
- I never had a chance.
- What do you mean, you
didn't have a chance?
- Well, it happened so fast.
It was all so fast.
- Obviously it wasn't.
It took five shots for
you to shoot these people.
It could not have happened just like that
as you have indicated.
- It did.
- It does not take that to
shoot Linda in the chest,
then shoot Dan in the back,
then re-aim and shoot Linda
in the back of her head.
It could not.
- I didn't aim.
My finger tensed once.
- Did you voluntarily pull the trigger?
- I don't remember pulling it.
- Did you tell Dr. Groza
another psychiatrist of yours
that you remember pulling the trigger?
- I don't remember telling her,
because I don't remember pulling it.
- Would it refresh your memory
to take a look at her notes?
- It says I remember pulling it once.
But I didn't see them, it was dark.
- You testified that after
you shot Dan and Linda,
you pulled the phone out of the wall
because you were afraid
that he might be alive
and that he might call the police.
Is that a fair and accurate portrayal?
Yes, he scared me,
I was afraid-
- Did you tell Dr. Farrellson
that after you shot Dan,
and as he was reaching for the phone,
you took the gun and
deliberately smashed his hand
on the night table?
- I don't remember saying that.
- Did you smash his hand with the gun?
- No.
- Then why did you tell your
psychiatrist that you did?
- Object, highly argumentative.
- Overruled.
This is cross, she may answer.
Why did you tell Dr. Farrellson
that after you shot them three times,
you smashed Dan's hand with the gun
as he reached for the phone?
- I don't remember.
- Do you remember telling Amy
Wallace, from the LA Times,
that there was no pain?
There was no blood.
It was simple.
- I had been told that.
I had heard it here in this courtroom
during the first trial.
- Really?
You made that statement
back in March of 1990.
The first trial began
the following October.
Do you remember saying
in the same interview,
"I had only one choice,
his funeral or mine.
- I said that, but I didn't-
- Did you say that?
Did you make that statement?
"I had only one choice,
his funeral or mine?
- Yes.
- And that is exactly what you did.
You chose to make real sure
that it was his funeral,
correct?
- I didn't choose.
I went there to kill myself.
- Why didn't you?
- There weren't any bullets left.
- No, there weren't, were there?
They had all been fired
into the sleeping bodies
of Dan and Linda Broderick.
No pain and no blood.
Not exactly true Mrs. Broderick.
Although how would you know,
you didn't stick around long enough
to see the blood drain from their corpses?
Did you?
I understand the
jury has reached a verdict.
Will the foreman pass the
forms to my bailiff, please.
The clerk will read the verdicts.
- In the superior court of
the state of California,
in here before the County of San Diego.
We, the jury find the defendant,
Elizabeth Ann Broderick,
guilty of the crime of
murder in the second degree,
victim Daniel Broderick,
we further find the defendant guilty
of the crime of murder
in the second degree,
victim, Linda Broderick.
- Sentence will be
imposed at a later date.
This court is adjourned.
- Your honor, this is
called an impact statement.
So I will try to describe to
you the impact Linda's murder
has had on her family.
We are all very close.
My father does not even
have the emotional fortitude
to be here.
He simply could not bear
to be in the same room
with the murderer of his youngest child.
Our families have been
compelled to talk to the media
because the defense strategy
has been to paint Dan
and Linda as villains.
We are put in the position
of defending them.
They are the ones who were murdered
and they have been put on trial.
I'm baffled by it.
I wanted to grow old with my sister.
I wanted to be an aunt to her children.
I wanted to spend a
lot more time with her,
but she's dead.
No sentence could ever be proportionate
with what was taken from Linda,
and what we have lost.
Thank you.
- As it is within my discretion to do so.
I'm imposing consecutive
rather than concurrent terms.
The maximum sentence of 15
years to life imprisonment
for each crime of second degree murder.
- Jack, what are they doing?
Elizabeth Broderick
is currently incarcerated
at the Central California
Women's Facility at Chowchilla.
She will not be eligible for
parole until March, 2011.