Community Chat

[sunshine45]

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@shoekitty wrote:

@Mz iMac I think Meridian Baxter Birney was excellent as Betty. Hard to ever see her as sweet Elise again after this performance.  She highly resembles her as well. The movie was good, but remember the facts have been tweaked a bit.... but with her story, there is a lot of ground to cover that couldnt be put into a 90 min movie. You would need a mini series!!

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i would agree @shoekitty .

i would also say to read some of the books out there, including the one betty wrote. i also highly recommend the LA TIMES podcast.....  "it was simple: the betty broderick murders." that had lots of interesting information also. four parts, 2020.

i have been fascinated by this story and case for such a long time. 

"These were murders that would turn any town on its head, but La Jolla, Calif? That rich jewel by the sea? Thirty years ago, a man and his new wife were murdered in their bed. That’s a long time for a double homicide to stay in the public eye and imagination, but these were no ordinary murders. The killer was the man’s first wife, Betty Broderick. Betty and Dan Broderick had looked like the perfect couple, right up until they weren’t. After four children and nearly 15 years of marriage, after the riches they both worked for were finally within reach, he walked out and began having an affair with his assistant. But divorce ended the Brodericks’ marriage only on paper. “Till death do you part” turned out to be the way it would ultimately end: bitter, savage and fatal. It took two criminal trials to send Betty Broderick to prison, and we’ll hear not only from her divorce attorney, but also from the criminal defense attorney who argued for her in two murder trials, plus the foreman of the jury that convicted her. So many things burned this case into memory: The principals were rich. The jealous killer was, for a change, the woman, not the man. It’s been the subject of TV movies and books. It’s resonated with two generations of Americans -- deserted wives, unhappy husbands. And it’s raised some questions about how divorce laws may contribute to what’s called the feminization of poverty. All of these issues remain critical and controversial in contemporary America today. Thirty years after five bullets, two coffins and one California prison inmate No. W42477, why can’t we look away from Betty Broderick?© 2020 Los Angeles Times"

[febe1]

I read an article about Betty and her children while in prison:

two of them stood by their mother and told their father they wanted to go live with her, and she wouldn't act so badly.

The other two sporadically communicated and stayed in touch.

All four children were there and around her when she died.

[Mz iMac]

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@shoekitty wrote:

 The movie was good, but remember the facts have been tweaked a bit.... but with her story, there is a lot of ground to cover that couldnt be put into a 90 min movie. You would need a mini series!!

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@shoekitty  You are correct.  Reason Meredith Baxter starred in the "mini series."

A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story

Betty Broderick Part 2: Her Final Fury

[occasionalrain]

Since her first trial ended with a hung jury, at least one juror must have thought her justified.

[lgfan]

There was also another case of a man who killed his ex-wife and tried to murder the judge who handled their divorce:

"A Nevada businessman who unsuccessfully sought to withdraw from a plea deal after he stabbed his wife to death and shot at a Reno divorce judge sniper-style through a courthouse window during a single day in 2006 is now claiming his defense lawyers were ineffective.

In a continuing effort to take the murder and attempted-murder case to trial despite his convictions and a 36- to 60-year sentence that likely will require him to spend nearly 40 years in prison, if he lives that long, Darren Mack is now arguing in a federal court appeal in Reno that his lawyers pressured him into accepting a plea deal that he didn’t want to accept. To support his case, he has attached as exhibits to a recent motion a 2007 memo written by then-defense attorney Scott Freeman to co-counsel David Chesnoff and a 2008 letter from a defense psychiatrist, the Associated Press reports."

[foxywoods]

Youtube has a 6 hour video of Bettys 2nd trial . I watched some of it. the content creator spliced both the defense arguements and the prosecutions.   Maybe I got facts muddled between the video and many articles I read, but Betty said they (her and Dan) did not make any money until 1979. Before that their net-net was zero.

She got a bit overconfident after her hung jury and her testimony wavered a bit from the first trial.  The prosector also was a lot sharper this time around and caught Betty  where she claimed she did not  go to the house only wanted the kill herself.  But there were 5 bullets in the gun and she emptied all 5 into Dna and Linda. Plus yanking the phone out of the wall. Dan could have phoned 911 in fact it seemed he reached for the phone.

California still allows Epstein credits which dinged Betty's divorce settlement.

Note - this case is facinating but no way do I justify their murder. Betty was probably suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder and that Dx wasnt well known at that time. Dan however was Narcisistic. He got his jollies raking doctors over the coals. They both spent extravagantly and he gaslighted Betty for years while playing around.  Her freinds told her about seeing him in town with Linda out to restaurants. Rubbing it in her face while lying about it. Her friends suggetsed she make more of a presence at his law practice.  She was very wrapped up in the day- to-day with her kids and their activities. She also was PO'd with him becuase he stayed out late drinking. I was married to someone like that. He never came home from work on time on Fridays and Saturdays. It got worse haha long story...