Twenty years later, socialite Betty Broderick seeks parole in killing of ex-husband, his wife

Socialite Betty Broderick seeks parole in murders

CHINO, Calif. — Two decades after Betty Broderick drew national attention for fatally shooting her ex-husband and his new wife in their bed, the former San Diego socialite has her first date with a parole board Thursday in her quest for freedom.

The hearing is likely to examine her claims that years of emotional abuse by her lawyer husband drove her to kill.

Broderick, 62, was convicted in 1991 of second-degree murder and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison. Her story became the subject of a book and two TV movies. She has maintained she was a victim of battered-wife syndrome and was driven to kill by a bitter and prolonged divorce and custody battle.

The case produced lurid headlines with details of the battles between Broderick and her prominent husband, Daniel Broderick III. They married in 1969 and had four children. In the late 1980s, he began an affair with another woman whom he eventually married. The bitter divorce battle lasted four years.

At her trial, Broderick admitted firing the gun that killed her 44-year-old ex-husband and his new wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28, in their bed on Nov. 5, 1989. She portrayed herself as the victim of a heartless man who had discarded her for a younger and slimmer woman and then used his legal skills and clout with the local judiciary to gain unfair advantages in the divorce settlement and child custody hearings.

Broderick admitted bombarding him with obscene telephone calls, smearing a Boston cream pie on his clothes and driving her truck through his front door.

During six days of emotional testimony at the second trial, Broderick said she crept into the couple’s bedroom before dawn planning only to confront them or to kill herself. She said she didn’t aim the gun and didn’t remember pulling the trigger.

The prosecution called it a cold-blooded execution motivated by jealousy and obsessive hatred. Broderick’s lawyer said her ex-husband heaped abuse on her and pushed her past an emotional breaking point.

It took two trials to convict her. The first ended in a hung jury and the foreman was quoted as saying of the shootings: “We just wonder why it took her so long.”