Episode Transcript
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Hi everyone and welcome to women and
crime we are really excited to bring you
this new podcast about all things
related to women in the criminal justice
system our voices might sound familiar
to those of you who listen to direct
appeal story about famous suitcase
murder Melanie McGuire who was convicted
for the murder and dismemberment of her
husband and who is currently serving a
life sentence for those of you who don’t
know us my name is Megan sax and I am a
criminologist and I have been for the
last ten years I write in research on
topics including bail reform sex
offender policies and women and crime
and this is my co-host Amy slots burg
hello I am Amy slash burg and I am also
a criminologist however my focus is
different my focus is on the causes and
remedies of wrongful conviction and
offender re-entry and reintegration
happy to be back Megan so excited to be
here and really excited to bring you
this new podcast.
This is episode one the
Betty Broderick story
[Music]
Have you ever heard of Betty Broderick Amy?
You know the name sounds familiar but I
can’t place it to be honest so okay well
like I said I first heard about this
case when I was younger actually I was
watching the news with my mother when I
was probably or and should not
have been watching this type of
information and I saw this case about a
woman who had murdered her ex-husband
and his wife and then right after I
remember my mother was watching the
movie that came out the Betty Broderick
story and this was with Meredith
baxter-birney and I remember the movie
was really shocking and she was really
good and we were both sort of hooked
into it what can I say
so let’s talk about who Betty Broderick
is well her name’s is actually Elizabeth
Broderick she grew up in New York and
attended an all-girls college and that
was right around East Chester New York
and she met her husband Dan Broderick at
a Notre Dame game in so Dan was in
college there and betty was attending a
game there was a difference in age
between the two of them so Betty was a
couple of years younger I think she was
just about to go to college and Dan was
a couple of years in and Betty described
Dan as being kind of this geeky type he
had talked about how he was gonna go to
medical school right after and Betty was
quite beautiful she was a young sort of
socialite from a you know good family
good area she recalled that she was
going back you know she was excited to
start college at the time and but Dan
actually you know got her number and he
wooed her he really pursued her and she
said that he was persistent and his
persistence over a couple of years wound
up paying off so they eventually married
a few years later I think it was
when they married and they had their
first child in well Betty would go
on to actually support Dan and a
burgeoning family I guess you would say
well Dan went to medical school and he
went to Cornell Medical School and Betty
with her education I believe her degree
was an early education became a teacher
so Dan goes on to medical school which
is rough you know they have a small
child and I believe I had a second one
not too far after
and he finishes medical school and you
probably think well that’s a great
moment right like how a medical school
has done he’s gonna go on to become a
doctor well that’s not what happened
here
Dan announced after he finished Medical
School that in fact he did not want to
practice medicine and that he intended
to go right on to law school and Betty
supported this decision and he actually
went to Harvard Law School so were they
well-off they weren’t no I actually
remember Betty describing their first I
think one of their first beds for the
the daughter was not you know it was
like a drawer yeah you know blankets and
a drawer of a dresser so no they were
not well-off at all but she stood by him
and I mean he did go to Harvard Law
School so there he’s our guy yeah super
smart guy
so he went to law school and he finished
and he went on to combine these two so
medical school and law school his
background to become a successful
medical malpractice attorney in San
Diego in La Jolla basically through most
of the s
Betty’s working dan is he’s going to
school and finally you know he got this
job and I think it was by like the nine
early s maybe after a lot
of years of struggling and hard work the
Broderick’s kind of arrived on the scene
so they become this socialite family in
La Jolla they have four children at the
time and as Betty would say quite
frankly they they were doing well they
had money now they had houses they
belonged to the country club they were
taking ski trips she said we could
finally breathe this was it all of the
hard work had paid off you know for ten
years and this was they were still young
I think they knew they were still in
their s so life is looking good for
them but then Betty describes that there
would be a change in in Dan’s behavior
at some point as he becomes more
successful and he really was a
successful attorney described that way
by almost everyone who knew him he was
earning something I think like maybe
about a million dollars a year and this
is in so he’s doing well she says
he goes she noticed that he start to go
through like a midlife crisis and what’s
the first sign do you hang a car and
what do you buy when you have
life crisis does anyone know a sports
car so he came home with a red Corvette
yeah and exactly so he came home with
the red Corvette and she said that you
were called buying a book that was like
how to survive her midlife crisis and
she said that she did things like try to
make herself better so improve herself
you know whether it was I can’t remember
she said cosmetic surgery but she lost
weight and she was she was already thin
she was an attractive woman but you know
she thought okay well if he’s going
through something I’m gonna work on this
too but then something happened that
would surprise Betty a lot because she
said that she never knew Dan to be
interested in other women and she said
they had an office party and was his
office party and she was invited and she
said at this party it was the first time
where she would be introduced to Linda
Coquina and Linda Coquina would
eventually go on to become an integral
part of this case but she was a very
young new office assistant I believe
Linda was or at the time very very
attractive and Betty said this was the
first time she had ever heard Dan say to
another person Wow look at how pretty
this woman is and she said it was kind
of like a jolt she said you know up
until that time Dan never talked about
other women in that way so this was her
first inkling that something was wrong
but she also said she didn’t think that
it was a big deal right like she’s not
gonna see Linda very often she’s just
some office she’s a temp I think she was
a temp at the time so she didn’t really
think that this was gonna be such a big
deal but Linda would go on to become a
regular office assistant and Dan would
hire her pretty quickly as his personal
assistant and mind you the personal is
his personal assistant mind you Linda I
don’t think and every report I read she
she couldn’t type she was not
necessarily the assistant you would
think someone would one for you know a
thriving sort of career I don’t know
much more about her professional skills
but Dan hired her she became his
full-time personal assistant personal no
it’s not as part
assistant it’s his professional
assistant well she could be clearly she
was both it sounds like that’s what
you’re getting at but I administer ativ
assistant yeah I’m trying to think what
the right way to say that would be but I
think it was his you know his assistant
anyway his legal assistant on his team
and it became obvious to people in the
office that they were spending a
significant amount of time together and
Betty became suspicious that they were
having an affair and they were still
married Linda and Dan were taking longer
lunches together and what happened was
there was sort of a big event that
culminated this was I believe Dan’s
th birthday Betty had come to the
office to visit him she came with
balloons champagne you know the whole
nine yards and Linda and Dan were both
gone and it looked like there had
already been a party in Dan’s office
like champagne bottles as well cake you
know it was obvious that there was a
celebration one of the other secretaries
was left to say sorry mrs. Broderick but
Dan and Linda have left for the day
now I think Dan might have later claimed
that they were at a deposition or
something is that what they’re calling
it right so I read a bunch of you know
I’ve read a bunch on this case anyway
because I was so interested in it but
you know there’s mixed reports and
whether or not there’s confirmation
about the affair but I think there was a
good amount of evidence that they were
certainly engaged in an affair and
you’ll actually appreciate this though
so when Betty left she went home and
when Dan got home apparently all of his
clothes were sitting in a pile on the
lawn good for her and well she set them
on fire I say the reason you might
appreciate this is because I often hear
you say liar liar pants on fire so this
was an odd – liar liar pants on fire
good so what had happened I mean you
know Dan kept telling Betty you know not
nothing’s happening
you’re you’re crazy you know you’re
imagining this however you know I should
also mention that right now what you’re
getting is a picture of Betty is this
you know perfect wife and some people
have described her that way but her kids
would later go on to say that they made
some of them would go on to say that the
relationship was not so rosy between the
two of them and what they actually
described and in court depositions later
on our court testimony later on was that
their mother had a lot of outburst and
that she could be very she had a very
bad temper
do you know how old the kids were about
while this was going on we’re talking
like infants or no they weren’t actually
I mean she had I think the boys were
younger so I I’m you know maybe they
were eight nine ten they weren’t grown
but they weren’t infants no the girls
were older certainly one of the girls
was I believe maybe there was okay
they’re definitely older than this time
so there was definitely information that
came from them that just said that Betty
was not always she had a temper and they
said she could be violent they said she
threw things she threw things at their
father they said that often Betty was
threatened divorce say she was leaving
so there they described it as a
tumultuous relationship for sure which
is certainly not an excuse for cheating
but it wasn’t so rosy okay so eventually
what happens is yes Dan says that he
wants a divorce and I think this
happened in so Dan files for
divorce and of course Betty does not
want a divorce this is not in her plan
but didn’t she
light his clothes on fire and it sounds
like she was she was just trying to make
a point but she wanted to stay oh no she
I think she believed he was having an
affair but she wanted to save her
marriage
oh she thought this she thought it was a
fling she thought that he was going to
have a little thing have a little
midlife crisis have a car have a girl
maybe for a second even though she
wasn’t happy about it but she didn’t
think this was gonna lead to a forever
breakup okay but Dan Broderick had other
ideas when Dan met Linda it was I think
for him you know he fell in love and
that was it and he intended to be with
Linda so he filed for divorce in
and this divorce would make headlines
like no other it was almost a five year
divorce dan Broderick at the time I
believe was the president of the San
Diego Bar Association so he was very
well respected in all the legal circles
Betty said that it made it very
difficult for her to get a lawyer or one
that she felt was competent she went
through a number of lawyers before she
would settle on one but
even then she elected at some point you
represent herself during the time they
were getting divorced though Betty did a
lot of things that were outside the
bounds of the law so Dan and Betty took
up separate residences and who had
custody of the kids and also this
becomes interesting so Betty would
naturally have had custody and I think
Dan might have been comfortable with
that they moved somewhere close you know
they were gonna stay both in I guess
Dan’s plan was always to be near his
kids and the kids were mostly with Betty
but she systematically during this time
began dropping her kids off on his
doorstep like okay now you take them
she said she dropped them off one by one
in hopes that he would a see how hard it
was to raise children and be see how
terrible it was to tear their family
apart and she also thought that he would
she I think she really felt that he’s
gonna find this so difficult and be like
wow I had no clue how much he did and so
he would either want to give them back
or work it out but that didn’t happen
dan actually said fine they’ll come live
with me and so the kids wound up staying
with Dan for quite some time but during
this time they would go back and forth
and the two younger sons I think would
eventually gravitate more towards
spending time at Betty’s house but Betty
broke into Dan’s house a number of times
so she breaks in in one famous event she
broke into his house and trashed it she
threw bottles everywhere she knocked
over furniture she sprayed graffiti all
over the walls I mean she really trashed
the place and not legal either as far as
I know no I mean she really went I mean
she was mad I’m assuming he didn’t press
charges though it probably wasn’t Oh Dan
press charges oh he did oh oh this
became like a thing back and forth no
draining water at any point he sure did
huh oh yeah she wasn’t supposed to go
over to his house she broke in another
time and apparently Linda had made him
Linda was living with him at the time
Linda was not living with him right away
but she broke in another time and Linda
had obviously made him I guess his
favorite one of the things he loved was
like a Boston cream pie so there was one
in his house and she took it and smeared
it all over the bed in the wall a waste
of a good pie
you know I think of the same thing as
talking about talking about it so she
had broken into threads another time she
threw wine bottles through his again
what a waste of wine I think they were
empty bottles okay yeah just to make you
feel better I think they were empty
bottles so she has she is getting she’s
getting increasingly violent and she’s
got a history now of breaking into his
home trashing it
she’s also calling and leaving terrible
messages on the machine so she’s leaving
like I mean she’s cursing and she is
saying things like you know how are you
in the whore doing she harassing winds
as well do you know when Linda moved in
that’s when she started to harass them
both and I don’t know how long it was
until Linda moved in I’m not quite sure
but you know at first she left messages
for Dan but then it became Dan and Linda
she would say these things though also
and her kids would hear the messages and
one of her sons I mean one of her son’s
you know asked her to please stop saying
horrible things it was embarrassing dan
got a restraining order against her he
began to find her as well for the
obscene messages so I think that every
time she left a bad message or like a
lewd message where she cursed he would
deduct like $ off her the allowance a
she’s the judge eventually ordered him
to pay all of that money back but for
some time he he wasn’t finding a way to
enforce you know the restraining orders
not working Betty became I will tell you
this so she became I mean the pinnacle
of violence was probably she became so
enraged with a round of like legal
papers that he served her that she drove
her car her truck or SUV maybe it was
through the door the front door of his
house oh my god yeah this was I mean
this was violent and Dan had her
arrested
I believe Dan had her committed to a
mental institution or a psychiatric
facility for a short time at one point
now her version of the story is that Dan
was making her crazy he was making her
nuts he was trying to make it seem crazy
so that he would do better in divorce
court
he antagonized her he and Linda were
antagonizing her she said that she would
get letters or pictures of Dan and Linda
together and that she would also get
anti-wrinkle cream and weight-loss
products and the mail so you was this
Linda harass
her back well this is what betty was
saying she said clear that carbureted or
is that just based on her word like I’m
wondering if that’s just her lying I
think that was just Betty’s word yeah
although she may have told a friend at
the time she still had friends at the
time too so you know remember they’re
both still residing in La Jolla and you
know she claimed that Dan used the
courts to further abuse her there was a
legal loophole he had used to sell their
house so they had a joint house and he
wanted to sell it and she didn’t want to
or she wanted a certain price and so he
used some I don’t know what the loophole
was but he was able to actually sell the
house without her permission now some
people might have said like that’s crazy
I can’t believe you know he was able to
do that and whatnot however she was they
received a couple of offers on the house
which she said no and he just said I’m
never gonna be able to do this she’s
never gonna say yes so a lot of this
also becomes whose perspective are you
going to believe okay so they go back
and forth they get there’s a final
settlement Dan gets custody of the
children in the final settlement Betty
got almost nothing in terms of like a
lump sum financial settlement and
because Dan actually used a California
law that allowed the earning spouse to
split debt incurred after separation on
I think community properties so I mean
it came out at the end the judge said
something like splitting it up would
mean that Betty would actually owe Dan
money I think she got something like
thirty thousand dollars which seems and
we told her I’m assuming I’m sure that
enraged her but she did get a house in
La Jolla worth about I think I saw a
couple different reports so estimates
were between and thousand
dollars and she also got alimony
remember not child support because he
had the children she got alimony in the
amount of $, a month so we’re
talking about almost two hundred
thousand dollars a year and a house in
La Jolla and some people might say
that’s actually more than fair also
considering that Betty was young and she
could still work and this is not someone
who was not capable of going out and
finding a job at this point even though
she hadn’t and she sacrificed a lot but
she was obviously furious over it also
because the divorce was finalized it
meant that
and Linda were free to get married so
Dan and Linda got married pretty quickly
after in April Dan got security for
the wedding because Betty had threatened
to kill him and it turns out that a
couple of his friends and security
advisors wanted Dan to wear a
bulletproof vest it was that bad it was
that bad Wow
so did Betty have firearms or what was
it Betty did have a firearm and they
knew that obviously okay I don’t know if
they knew that she had a firearm it was
just revealed later on in in the reports
and she got a firearm right around the
time Dan the ones that got married okay
so he refused though he said I got
security
I’m not wearing I’m not gonna be held
hostage by my ex-wife and then he also
said reportedly that you know if she
kills me it’s like killing the Golden
Goose because he was still supporting
her financially yeah still paying that
$, in herself that’s essentially
what he was saying so okay they get
married in November Betty and Dan
have been divorced but they still have
legal battles because they’re still
going back and forth
apparently Betty is still leaving these
obscene messages on their machine
calling Dan awful names and Linda always
the bimbo the whore how’s your whore and
it kind of went on and on and and Dan
filed more restraining orders against
her and I guess she had just gotten
served with another round of legal
documents legal papers and this was
right before her nd birthday and one
night in November again right
before her birthday she took her
daughter’s key and she went over to Dan
and Linda’s home and she unlocked the
door went in this is in the early
morning hours I believe between : and
: a.m. she went up to their room
while they were sleeping and she shot at
them she shot the couple she first shot
she first hit Linda with two bullets and
they killed her pretty instantly the
bullets killed her pretty instantly but
after she shot Dan he was still alive
and he actually crawled down from the
bed to the floor and he was trying to
take cover and reach for the phone and
he apparently said to her okay okay you
got me you got me and she went over and
rip the phone out of the wall so that he
couldn’t you know pick up the phone and
call the cops she took the phone and she
left and she called her daughter why
don’t she kill him he died he died as
well you know dan and Linda both died
Linda would die instantly
so no pain Dan unfortunately his lung
would bleed out so he’s slower so it was
or any of the children home at the time
no none of the children were in the
house at the time and so Betty called
one of her children afterwards she
called the daughter one of the daughters
and one of her daughters came and
basically got her and sorry before we
get there she called a daughter but
Betty also had I my dad bet he had a
boyfriend at the time daddy’s got a
boyfriend who had been reportedly living
with her for quite some time they had
been dating for a couple of years
nursing it’s kind of an interesting
development because you think that she’s
the the woman scorned and upset but yet
she’s also having a relationship so she
had called her daughter and daughter
also or she called her boyfriend also
what happened was that her boyfriend and
one of the neighbors went over to Dan
and Linda’s because Betty said to the
daughter or to one of them I’ve killed
him I’ve killed Dan no she made an
initial confession she made a confession
right away interesting she called them
and said I’ve killed him I killed the
son of a bitch something of that nature
and they were just not sure like is this
Betty talking you know or did she really
do this so they went over to the house
and they found them really quickly
called the cops and Betty would actually
turn herself in later that day with her
daughter and she never denied committing
the murders ever the community was
shocked too of course they’re shocked
about this happening in you know this
prestigious neighborhood on the one hand
you have a vicious murder but on the
other hand you also have people who
hunker down in Betty’s camp pretty
quickly oh yeah she’s the loyal wife who
was dumped after making her husband a
success and replaced by the younger
version of her that doesn’t give you the
right to kill your husband your
ex-husband though like yes she was wrong
but why would any one side with someone
who murdered two people in cold blood
a lot of women women who were sick
of husbands you know they were sick of
being the the second you know what’s
that the First Wives Club they were sick
of being dumped by the husband who made
his success off their backs some women
thought also they believed Betty’s
claims that she was really the tortured
one that he mentally verbally abused her
and that she Betty said he drew he and
Linda drove me to this
she said if they would have ever treated
me decently fairly if they didn’t stomp
all over me if they didn’t use and abuse
me this would have been a different
outcome doesn’t give you the right to
kill I think it’s not like she’s even
trying to claim self-defense she’s just
claiming like these people weren’t nice
to me you can’t just kill people who
aren’t nice day oh well she would claim
self-defense no okay so she was clearly
charged with murder and she went to
trial and the defense that she used in
the first trial was the battered wife
syndrome defense interesting yes she had
a good lawyer who you know sort of
showed systematically that she was this
great loyal wife who had been walked on
trampled on and the outcome was that she
was driven to the edge by being battered
I was gonna say do you think we got hurt
yeah do you want to tell the listeners
how battered wife syndrome is different
from self defense or if you’d like me to
so self defense requires that you have
to feel like your life is an immediate
danger right that’s one of the criteria
for claiming self-defense however a
battered wife syndrome battered woman
syndrome some states have adopted this
to get rid of that criteria whereby you
can claim that your life was not in
immediate danger however your actions
were the result of repeated abuse so the
impetus for this really were people that
were abused for years and then they may
have shot their attacker while they’re
sleeping and they claimed that this was
the only time I felt like I could do it
without fearing for my life so that
makes sense to me this makes no sense to
me as to why they would even the idea is
that she has other options right
self-defense is wouldn’t you have no
other option you feel like your life is
in danger she said it was either them or
me
this is this is the defense that she’s
using I was actually I was actually
looking at you thinking I can’t wait to
see what Amy’s reaction is going to be
this and what would a journey think
about this right would they think she
was a battery more curious what they
thought well you have also you have her
lawyer arguing this is clearly a
battered woman oh I think he did
something really smart too like in the
beginning of trial I think how this I
think there was something theatrical
like he showed a picture of her when she
was all dressed to the nines and like
she was this prestigious wife and said
something like this is what you know she
was and this is what she is now like her
mugshot this is what they drove her to
so it was kind of a theatrical dramatic
you know beginning and the prosecutor
got up and said better woman syndrome
and she was a female
give me a break this woman lives in a
you know get $, a month and lives
in a beautiful house in that voice of a
battered woman no she said I’ve dealt
with plenty of bad and battered women
and Betty Broderick is not one of them
and so they went on to have a very
famous trial this was a trial also on
Court TV and the outcome well can you
guess what the outcome was Amy I’m going
to hope they found her guilty the
outcome was a mistrial what they could
not decide there were interesting and
there were more than one there were me
the charge was first degree murder and I
guess they were very split as well on a
number of them wanting something like
manslaughter well because first degree
is premeditated and deliberate were they
trying to claim that maybe it wasn’t
premeditated it was more of like a crime
of passion right so this is really
interesting
Betty actually took the stand in her own
defense which is a big risk as you know
and as we’ve talked about in our past
cases and the prosecutor you know asks
her to explain this and Betty says oh I
didn’t go over there to kill them the
prosecutor whose name I believe was
Carrie wells says what do you mean you
went to them their house you snuck in
with a key you stole from your daughter
and you brought a gun and you shot them
and killed them and she said I know but
I was just so flustered I wish I heard
these voices in my head I just needed to
either reason with them so she said I
went over there because I was gonna make
them listen to me or I was gonna kill
myself and so the prosecutor says okay
so why didn’t you kill yourself and she
says well I ran out of bullets
oh come on okay so please tell me
they’ve retried the case oh yeah there
was no way this case was not going to be
retried they retried the case and the
second trial I mean a lot of the same
players you have the same lawyer she had
the same case pretty much and you have I
believe it was two of their children
testified and the prosecution or they
were prosecution witnesses because they
could speak to also you know she had
confessed to them she took one of the
what the poor daughter took you know her
key and one of the daughters I guess
testified about how they were always
supposed to guard the key with their
life you know and so they were I think
they were maybe reluctant witnesses but
they were witnesses for the prosecution
and the second trial resulted in murder
convictions in the second degree murder
conviction really and what yes the jury
couldn’t decide if it was really
premeditated or if she just got you know
enraged crazy and went over there they
couldn’t decide how premeditated it was
and I think that was the theme in the
first one I think bringing the gun going
in the middle of the night getting a key
I mean what more do you need for a
premeditation
it looks premeditated yeah I’m not gonna
lie I see premeditation here so betty
was convicted of second-degree murder I
don’t think she ever thought she would
be convicted yeah she received years
to life to be served consecutively so
for each victim for each Vic so that’s
pretty much to life to life she
also received I believe it was two
additional years for the possession of a
firearm
okay so no possibility of parole until
like we’ll get there the difference
between for listeners do you know they
might not know consecutively versus
concurrently so consecutively means both
sentences have to be served back-to-back
so years and then another years
concurrently means those sentences can
be combined together so it could just be
one -year term so consecutively is
worse so Betty got essentially years
to life and so okay so Betty has also
gotten parole hearings or she’s had
parole hearings she’s also done
interviews she did two interviews with
Oprah she’s done a number of interviews
from prison
and she was let’s see her first parole
hearing I believe was and they call
her angry Betty by the way during that
was kind of the name they gave her
afterward the press dubbed her that and
Betty was not remorseful at her parole
hearing and nor was she remorseful in
the interviews that she gave if you
watch them the ones you know Oprah had
asked her and I think the parole board
asked her are you sorry for what you did
and she consistently said I’m sorry for
everything that happened I’m sorry that
they made me do this I’m sorry that
Linda and Dan you know forced me down
this road I’m sorry for my children I’m
sorry that we all had to suffer because
of this situation and so obviously you
know a parole board that’s not gonna fly
for them they don’t want to hear that so
and this was so she’d been in
prison I’m gonna say now so the trial
was I’m not sure exactly a fast
math here come on I’m fast mouthing that
she had been in prison almost years
at this point you would think that
someone might be at least more
remorseful for a show I was just gonna
say someone would have told her by now
hey if you want parole you gotta at
least fake remorse I think she knew that
she didn’t care I think she couldn’t I
think Betty really really couldn’t so
she got the night pearl so she was
denied parole in and so she became
eligible again in and so she had
her second parole hearing in did
she learn her lesson hard to say she did
show some remorse this time she did say
she was sorry the parole board did not
feel that it was genuine okay it
probably wasn’t I’m sure it wasn’t
genuine if I had a guess I would say it
wasn’t and by the way she’s serving her
time in California Institute for women
in Chino and so the parole board said we
don’t think this woman’s ever really
gonna be repentant we don’t really think
she feels bad at all that she took these
two life’s and her kids were actually
this is interesting because she’s got
four children so you know people would
say what what was their role if any are
they were they interested did they did
they show up her kids are divided so you
know not that I know them personally but
from what I’ve read
two of them believe that she should be
released and one the female one of the
daughters testified at the parole
hearing that should her mother be
released she could come live with her
and two others feel that she is exactly
where she should be apparently the kids
remain united you know didn’t it didn’t
destroy them necessarily I tried to find
out information about what happened to
the math journal like they were moved
around a bit it looks like maybe a
relative or an in-law of Dan’s was
raising them and then they went to
friends you know the girls were a little
bit older so I’m not exactly sure where
they all wound up so did she get parole
in so she did not get parole so at
the age of
Betty Broderick was denied parole again
and I don’t think she’s eligible for
parole for a number of years so we’re
talking about a year old woman who is
going to be in prison
possibly until she dies it might be
exactly where she should be though that
might be the appropriate response so
interestingly you know everyone’s looked
at this case you’ve had a lot of people
who tried to diagnose her you have a
psychologist psychiatrist everyone has
kind of you know input on this and I
read all of these diagnoses to see you
also where I fall yeah I think that she
was diagnosed by one psychiatrist is
having borderline personality disorder
uh-huh I was gonna say narcissistic
personality disorder she was also
diagnosed with narcissistic personality
so she had intense mood swings described
by her children also
I mean Dan’s family said that but
they’re Dan’s family so they’re
obviously going to you know say things
that would not be helpful to Betty but
she had seemingly impulsive behavior
angry outbursts she fits a lot of the
characteristics of a borderline
personality disorder so I’m gonna go
ahead and say I think that one was
probably right she was also diagnosed as
having narcissistic personality disorder
so based on you know her lack of empathy
for others and placing herself above
others you know hard to accept criticism
for one’s behavior
you know Betty consistently maintained
that she was she consistently maintained
that she was a victim but she didn’t
regard that her children as the real
victims and she did a lot to please her
children in the mid
of this debacle at every time she used
her children I mean one of the kids
described so there was two accounts that
I read so one of the kids is describing
how scared and upset she was when she
saw her mother you know we laughed about
it but when she saw her mother setting
like you know her dad’s stuff on fire
and it’s a traumatising she said that
she would shoot I mean she was really
really upset and disturbed about it one
of her daughters wrote a book actually
and I read something that you know one
of the daughters describes like my mom
dropped me off on my dad’s doorstep I
was there for hours I didn’t know if he
was even coming home that night so said
and she thought just because well let’s
see how your dad likes this so her
regard really wasn’t on her children at
all you know we can’t say as much
obviously about Dan and Linda they’re
deceased we haven’t heard from then
Betty’s always been much more vocal it’s
certainly easier to say what might have
been wrong with her she was also
diagnosed by another expert as having
severe depression which also may have
been true you know I think Betty was in
I think Betty was unstable before but we
talked about this sometimes in our
classes where people face like a great
strain or a great loss so I think for
Betty that she suffered this great loss
and it wasn’t just it was losing her
husband but she also didn’t want to lose
the life they had worked so hard and she
in fairness to her she she’s the one who
made the sacrifice to get them there and
so I think that the actual strain of
losing her husband and that lifestyle
threw her into a whirlwind of violence
and instability I think it was you know
I think she did suffer of course it
wasn’t a mental illness I’m not sure or
was it just you know also she suffered a
loss and she had personality disorders
which I think you probably could see
ahead of time they weren’t trying to
claim any sort of insanity or you know
they went with better woman’s offense no
stuck with that your whole day well with
trials both trials yeah so I think that
you know was she a battered woman though
do I think she was a battered woman no I
think that also she had such a great
opportunity right she is a woman who was
smart young educated she had she could
work she was getting you know alimony to
support her living a good look she had
every opportunity to go on with her life
she has a boyfriend
judgey did move on with her life but she
couldn’t let it go she let go of anger
and she couldn’t you know she couldn’t
escape it and it almost sounds like
she’s okay with where she is because she
feels like this is what had to be done
and that’s the impression I’m getting
from it’s what the impression that I got
no I don’t think she’s okay with where
she is I don’t think she you know is
okay with being in prison but but I
don’t think she’s remorseful yeah I
think she no matter what I’m in prison
I’m a victim though who got placed here
you know this punishment is not fitting
but still not willing to take
responsibility mm-hmm so I’m gonna say
her punishment is probably for me her
punishment is fitting I think the
criminal justice system got it right
yeah I think Betty brought her it could
have gotten herself out of prison in
nineteen to twenty years after serving
that time by being showing remorse and
you know I think that also might have
been fair if she truly was remorseful if
she were to have a second chance yeah
the parole board also said they found
that she was not only that she didn’t
show remorse but they also found that
she would still be a danger to the
community that I don’t agree with but
not only about her age it sounds like an
isolated incident it’s not someone
that’s just randomly going around
hurting people I guess you could argue
that well would if her next boyfriend
something happened she might be the kind
of person where if something happens
that she’s not happy with in life that’s
going to be her response so I guess if
that’s how they were looking at it you
know they called her angry battery could
she be triggered so I’m gonna I’m going
to agree with you and disagree with the
parole board Betty was years old at
the time she’s older I think it was an
incident related to the loss of her
husband the in you know the insult to
injury the anger related to that I
highly doubt that she would have gone on
to you know become some sort of a spree
killer so I think the parole board was
probably right that she’s not remorseful
probably wrong that she would go on to
pose a future danger yeah but so Betty
will remain in the California Institute
for women until such time where she gets
another chance of parole and we’ll see
if she shows enough remorse to get out
that time.
All right and that’s it for
today thanks everyone for listening
thank you
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