Broderick Offers Not-Guilty Pleas in Two Slayings : Crime: The attorney of the accused says his client doesn’t understand the gravity of the charges and refers to her slain ex-husband as though he were alive.

Elisabeth Broderick is not fully aware of the gravity of the double-murder charges filed against her, and continually refers to her slain ex-husband as if he were living, her new criminal defense attorney said Wednesday after she pleaded not guilty.

“This is a very tragic case for everyone involved,” said Mark Alexander Wolf, describing Broderick’s emotional state as she sits in a Las Colinas jail cell accused of murdering her ex-husband, attorney Daniel T. Broderick III, and his recent bride, Linda.

“It’s clear that this kind of behavior is not sane,” he added. “On a certain level, I think she certainly is aware of that.

“But, on another level, I don’t think she really has any idea exactly how and what’s taking place and what’s going on.

“I will tell you this: She still describes him as being alive. She still uses the present tense when she talks about him. And I’m afraid (to correct her). My concern is I don’t want to push her any further than she’s already been pushed.”

Wolf, asked whether he was conceding that his client actually did shoot her former husband and his wife as they slept on the morning of Nov. 5, said:

“I’m saying that, if the reports in the media are true, if you assume that she did it--and that’s the D.A.’s responsibility to prove--that that kind of behavior doesn’t strike me as particularly sane behavior.”

However, Wolf stopped short of saying he would seek a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

“I haven’t been on this case long enough to make a decision on that,” he said. “But why somebody does something like this is not understandable.”

Wolf’s comments gave the first insights into Broderick’s mental and emotional condition since she surrendered to police on the afternoon of the day Daniel and Linda Broderick were murdered.

Elisabeth and Daniel Broderick had been involved in a long, nasty divorce case, dating to 1985, that family insiders have described as becoming more bitter with time.

Family associates have said that Elisabeth, consumed by the fact that her husband had won custody of their four children, often tormented him and his new wife. Other family friends said Daniel Broderick used his extensive legal knowledge and influence to take advantage of Elisabeth, even to the point of having their divorce records sealed.

In court Wednesday, Elisabeth Broderick waived her right to a bail hearing until next week. She is being held without bail, and Wolf said he wants some time so he can recommend a suitable bail amount.

“I’ll have a better understanding when I find out how much her husband left her in the divorce settlement,” he said, referring to the reported $16,000 a month her ex-husband was ordered to pay her.

Wolf, who assumed the case after Elisabeth Broderick had differences with her first attorney, also took the unusual step of obtaining a court order to allow her to appear in court Wednesday in civilian clothes, rather than the jail garb most inmates are furnished. At the hearing in Municipal Court, she wore a tan appliqued blouse and matching pants with gold-colored flat shoes. The court, with Judge Allan J. Preckel presiding, did not allow her to have makeup and hair curlers.

“Most attorneys think that their clients have the right to appear in some dignified fashion in front of the court,” Wolf said. “And this wasn’t Elisabeth’s idea, which is kind of strange. I obtained an order to allow her to do that and suggested to her that she might feel a little more comfortable doing it.”

Wolf said he also is concerned about a daughter of Elisabeth and Daniel Broderick, Lee Gordon Broderick, 18, who was cut out of Daniel Broderick’s will. According to police, Elisabeth Broderick shot the couple and then went to Lee Broderick’s apartment in Pacific Beach, where a .38-caliber revolver believed to be the murder weapon was found in Elisabeth’s purse.

Wolf noted that Lee Broderick, who has never been implicated in the shootings, has come under scrutiny by police.

“I know she’s been interrogated, but I don’t know what the upshot of that is,” he said.

Lee Broderick, on the advice of an attorney, has declined to discuss the shootings.

Also on Wednesday, a second police affidavit was filed in Municipal Court, covering a search conducted of Elisabeth Broderick’s home in the 8300 block of Calle del Cielo in La Jolla.

In that search, police recovered a photo of Daniel Broderick and a letter he wrote to Elisabeth, along with a gun case containing bullets in a dressing drawer in her bedroom. Although police said they also were looking for a suicide note at that address, none was found.

Wolf said he does not believe his client is suicidal.

“She doesn’t seem to exhibit the warning signals,” he said. “But, in an emotional way, she doesn’t really understand what’s going on, and that’s obvious in the way she talks about Dan. She talks about him as being still alive.”

Although he has cautioned Elisabeth Broderick not to talk to the press, he said he hopes that the divorce records are unsealed and that she eventually is able to tell the community her story of mistreatment by her former husband.

“She wants people to hear what happened to her.”

Although her first name has been repeatedly spelled in public as Elisabeth, Wolf said her true, legal name is Elizabeth.

“When she was a little girl, she changed her name from a Z to an S,” he said, “and she has used it ever since.”