Betty Broderick was born Elisabeth Anne Bisceglia in 1947 and raised in Eastchester, New York. She was only 17 when she met Dan Broderick, then a pre-med student. They married on April 12, 1968 and their family quickly expanded to four. Early into his medical residency, Dan decided to become a lawyer, and Betty supported the family while he obtained his law degree from Harvard. Dan moved the family to the San Diego, California, area after graduating, and Betty continued to support the family during the first years of his practice. Ultimately, he combined his medical and legal knowledge in a successful and lucrative practice as a medical malpractice attorney. Betty focused most of her efforts on their home and the family, which had grown to six.
In 1983, Dan began an extra-marital affair with Linda Kolkena, a 21-year-old who looked strikingly like a younger Betty. At the end of February 1984, Dan confessed to his affair and told Betty he was filing for divorce. Thereafter, he began living more like a bachelor, spending little time with the children and openly pursuing his relationship with Kolkena. Betty began engaging in extreme and destructive behavior, including vandalism directed primarily at Dan.
Some of the most serious problems Betty faced were legal. Dan’s practice had grown over the years, and so had his influence. Consequently, even lawyers who had been friends of both Brodericks refused to represent Betty in the divorce, and she was forced to hire attorneys from outside San Diego. Dan’s influence extended to the system itself, and Betty encountered constant legal challenges, orchestrated by Dan’s colleagues. The couple’s divorce was final in January of 1989, and Betty lost much, including custody of their children, who were still minors. Due to provisions in California divorce law, Betty was even ruled to owe Dan $750,000. Dan Broderick, who was a multi-millionaire, only had to pay his ex-wife $30,000.
Early on November 5, 1989, Betty Broderick entered Dan and Linda’s home and shot them while they slept. Betty immediately turned herself in and was charged with first-degree murder. At trial, which began on September 27, 1990, the prosecutor argued that Betty had thought about murdering Dan and Linda “for a long, long time.” Broderick’s attorney, on the other hand, painted a picture of a victim abused by a powerful, cold, philandering husband. The trial ended with a hung jury, with two jurors holding out against conviction, one of whom said “We only wondered what took her so long to kill him.”
The state re-tried Broderick in October of 1991. While little changed in the prosecutor’s case, the judge in the second trial barred much of the defense evidence of abuse suffered by Betty. But the jury’s verdict of second-degree murder pleased no one: Dan and Linda’s friends and supporters believed Betty’s sentence of thirty-two-years-to-life to be far too little; Betty’s supporters felt that any punishment for more than manslaughter was too much. Betty Broderick was incarcerated in the Central California Women’s Facility.
gummygunk
jimmyeatworldofficial
gracieabrams
ellievsbear
blakekathryn
