Broderick Was Open to Attack, His Friends Say

Daniel T. Broderick III knew he had a choice, friends and legal experts said Tuesday.

In the face of persistent threats from his ex-wife, Elisabeth, the prominent medical malpractice attorney had the financial means and the legal contacts to protect himself and his new wife, Linda. But he also knew better than most people that, particularly in families with children, such self-protection can bear a high emotional price.

“Especially when you have children, you don’t want to polarize people. You’ve got weddings, and graduations coming up,” said Bonnie Nelson Reading, a certified family law specialist at Seltzer, Caplan, Wilkins & McMahon who knew the Brodericks. “I tell my clients, you have to do everything in your power to protect yourself: get a dog, get a can of Mace, learn to shoot a gun, learn karate, get an unlisted telephone number, get a post office box, have a telephone answering machine so you can record any threatening calls, (hire) private security guards. Dan could have afforded it all, but he decided not to let her craziness drive his life.”

On Tuesday, as the San Diego legal community pondered what, if anything, the late Daniel Broderick could have done to escape his killer’s gunfire, an informal move to prevent a change of venue was already under way. Meanwhile, friends of Elisabeth, who turned 42 on Tuesday, rallied to defend her as she appeared in court for the first time.

Dressed in pale-blue jail garb, the only suspect in the double slaying faced the judge impassively, her hands cuffed at her waist, and waived her right to a bail setting and a speedy arraignment.

Outside the courtroom, Kerry Wells, a deputy district attorney, said her office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty against Elisabeth, but that the case “certainly qualifies” for special circumstances necessary to allow such a penalty.

Wells said she would insist that Elisabeth never be allowed the opportunity to post bail. “Suitable bail is no bail,” she said.

But Ronald Frant, Elisabeth’s defense attorney, said he will seek reasonable bail when Elisabeth is formally arraigned Nov. 15.

On Tuesday, the legal community was already working to assure that the case is tried in San Diego County. Marc Adelman, president of the San Diego County Bar Assn., a position that Daniel Broderick once held, said he is urging his colleagues not to discuss the background of the Brodericks’ divorce.

“The more publicity there is here, it’s that much more likely that this matter will be transferred out of this venue,” he said. “We should be talking about our fondness for Dan and Linda. We want to assure that the trial is held in this county. I’d hate to see an insanity defense tried in Eureka . . . or San Francisco.”

The Brodericks’ messy divorce and continued threats of violence made more headlines than most. But experts say their problems were not unique. At least two-thirds of the 56 million married and cohabiting couples in this country have experienced at least one violent incident, according to a University of New Hampshire study. California law enforcement agencies received 182,540 domestic violence calls last year.

San Diego County is no different. Until recently, the family law court building on 6th Avenue in San Diego was the only court building in the county to have airport-type metal detectors. The reason: that’s where the most violence occurred.

“Domestic courts are the settings most susceptible to the emotional responses, and it’s been our experience that most of our violent confrontations have occurred in those settings,” said Lt. John Schmidt of the county marshal’s office. During the first year, the metal detectors were installed, he said, marshals confiscated more than 1,000 weapons, including knives, blackjacks, Mace, stun guns, throwing stars, marlinspikes and a hatchet.

“Threats between divorcing spouses are not unusual, but very rarely are they carried out,” said S. Michael Love, a certified family law specialist in El Cajon and an acquaintance of Daniel Broderick. “The only things Dan could have done is put better security on the house, hire a bodyguard or have Betty followed. But these things are so outrageous. I mean, how long do you do keep that up? Forever?”

“Do you put the mother of your children in jail? Even if she deserves it?” he asked. “It exacerbates the problem because you’re still connected by your children. That’s a serious step. And yet, for the most part, that’s often all we have to use against a nonconforming spouse.”

Friends said that, although Daniel had had Elisabeth jailed once for a series of obscene and threatening phone calls, he was reluctant to take such serious steps.

Robert W. Harrison, a defense attorney and friend, said, “I think maybe (Daniel) had blinders on to some degree. I know that he was by nature a guy that was trying to do the best he could for the sake of his children to try to have some semblance of normalcy. He did not want to have a bitter fight.”

Marshall Hockett, another friend, said, Daniel “always looked towards the positive, which is perhaps one of the reasons why he’s dead.”

Even if he had taken more precautions, many said, it might not have made a difference. Gerald L. Barry Jr., who represented Daniel Broderick in the divorce, said, “If the system could control these things, we wouldn’t have any kind of violent crime. We have statutes, rules, laws that say you can’t rob banks. You can’t harass people. We know that you can’t murder people. But the system can’t prevent all actions of human beings. All they can do is punish.”

Brian Monaghan, another attorney and Daniel’s friend for 17 years, agreed. “It’s just one of those tragic flaws in society. If we’re going to have a free society, then there are going to be risks. And this is one of them.”

Elisabeth’s friends said she, too. felt her way of life was at risk. One female friend who knew Daniel as well said it was common knowledge in the Coral Reef area of southern La Jolla where they lived that Daniel had begun living with Linda immediately after separating from Elisabeth.

In addition to feeling jilted, Elisabeth, a strict Catholic, was devastated by the thought of her children sharing a roof with Linda and Daniel before they were married, the friend said. Her humiliation at having been replaced turned to rage, however, when she entered the legal system, where her husband had so much power.

The more distraught Elisabeth became, the more coolly logical were Daniel’s responses, said the friend, who asked that her name not be used.

“It was like a chess game for Dan,” said the friend, who said Elisabeth was particularly incensed when her divorce records were sealed at Daniel’s request.

“She became more emotional, which was interpreted as instability. In a sense it was a long-term kind of Chinese torture. It just drove her crazy. She was really just so fried that the legal system had done her in and that a person can control your life from outside and nobody would ever know.”

Wells, the assistant district attorney, said she probably would seek to reopen the closed divorce records between Elisabeth and Daniel Broderick. But Elisabeth Broderick’s lawyer said he would argue against such action.

“I’d be a fool to blindly agree to do anything not in her best interests,” he said. He would not say whether he will enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity on his client’s behalf.

“Everything in this world is possible,” he said.

Wells also said police found a .38-caliber, five-shot revolver in Elisabeth’s purse at her daughter’s apartment in Pacific Beach after the shooting. She said that, at the time of the killings, which were committed about 5:30 a.m. Sunday, Elisabeth and Daniel’s two preteen sons were staying at Elisabeth’s La Jolla condominium.

A memorial service for Daniel and Linda Broderick will be held at 9 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral, 1535 3rd Ave. Instead of flowers, the families have requested donations be made to the American/Ireland Fund, c/o Law Offices of Daniel Broderick, 610 W. Ash St., Suite 800, San Diego, CA 92101.

Staff writer Richard A. Serrano contributed to this article.