Broderick, convicted murderer, was sentenced in 1991 to two
counts of second degree murder for killing her former husband
Dan Broderick and his second wife, Linda Kolkena, in 1989. The
sentence was 32 years to life. She is currently incarcerated at
the California Institution for Women, Corona, California.
Betty Broderick had been to the shooting range to practice several
times before the killings. On the night of the murder Broderick took
the keys belonging to her daughter and drove to the residence of Dan
and Linda Broderick. She entered the home, entered the bedroom of
the sleeping couple. As they awoke to her presence Betty shot them
to death, emptying her gun. Linda was shot in the head and chest and
Daniel in the back. Then Betty Broderick ripped out the phone
cord and exited.
BETTY BRODERICK'S VIEW REGARDING THE KILLINGS:
"I had no bullets or anything, and I just had to get out of there."
I saw Daniel. He was on the floor, and the phone was right next to
him. I thought, 'Oh, my God! He is going to be on that phone before
I'm down the stairs. "There was no pain and there was no blood.
It was simple."
"It always makes me mad when people call them the victims. Me
and my kids were the victims. There are two dead people, but there
were five victims."
"Did you feel any relief after their deaths?
Broderick: "I don't know what I feel. I go through periods of peace,
but then there's a day like today, with the lawyer, the psychiatrist,
(a reporter) all asking me about the past...I don't know if my words
will be used against me." Momentarily, I felt like it was over. But
now, I'm having to go through it all over again."
Broderick believes "Dan provoked me into leaving obscene messages
because he'd put Linda's voice on the message of the answering
machine."
I never intended to make an obscene phone call. I always
picked up the phone to call my children. But then I'd get
Linda's voice on the line. That phone line was the only
communication I had with my kids. They would entrap me
into these calls, and then they'd just type it up. The only
purpose of that machine was to taunt me.
I had no power to torment him. I'm too intelligent to bother. I'd
never threatened him. The only weapons I had were my tongue
and my superior attitude."
"If Daniel had settled the divorce to my liking, I would have been
fine. I would have had my house, my kids. I would have still worn
a size 6--I used to be skinny, you know. I could have done my
superior dance. I try always to tell the truth. I was the right person.
I was right! How could things go so wrong?"
"When people hurt me, I remove myself from their company and go
on. I don't hold any grudges, just don't want to give them an opportunity
to go on with that behavior. I have no history in life of arguing or fighting
with anyone for any reason. I despise arguing and ill will."
Dan was dependent upon me for his happiness. I was the one who kept
everything afloat.
My only intention on November 5 was to kill myself. I couldn't stand
it anymore, but I went there to try to reason with him one more time.
I had no intention of shooting Dan and Linda. No one was more
surprised than I when I heard they were dead - I had no idea when I
left there that anyone had even been hit!
ABOUT HER SENTENCING:
"The sensible thing would have been for Whelan to have ordered
my sentences to run concurrently. Though two people were killed, it
all happened so close in time as to be "one incident of aberrant
behavior. It was so fast the gun never moved. The fact that the bullet
went other places, well, a gun kicks around. But it never moved. It's
not like I shot here and I shot over there. It was never like that.
What surprises me most is that I have such widespread understanding
and am still sitting here sentenced as a "murderer."
I had a total nervous breakdown and should have been hospitalized,
then sentenced to no more than manslaughter - not murder. I did what
did, but there was no premeditation, no malice, it was a fluke!
"I reacted to provocation from the victims - the legal letters I had just
read threatening to have me jailed again. Reacting to provocation
equals manslaughter. I'd be home by 1999 -ten years is enough."
"How do you respond to people who believe you refuse to take
responsibility for Dan and Linda Broderick's deaths?
"I don't understand how anybody could think that! Yikes! I have
taken full responsibility for what happened that day. I just refuse
to take responsibility for things that did not happen. This was not
about the "affair," which was over in 1985. They were not asleep
[when killed]. Linda came at me and the gun went off over and
across the bed. All the evidence proves this!"
Do you believe you violated the Christian commandment “thou
shalt not kill”? Do you consider yourself a murderer?
This is just like the difference between manslaughter and
premeditated murder. There are all different degrees of "killing."
What is punishable by God and the State is the intent of the person
who did the killing. These were unintentional, accidental with no
premeditation whatsoever.
Broderick will be eligible for her first possible parole date in
March of 2010.
It's unlikely the parole board will view her continued lack of
remorse, and portrayal of herself as the victim, while continuing
to blame the murdered Dan and Linda Broderick with any degree
of sympathy.
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