Broderick Sends an Unwelcome Message to Prosecutor

Elisabeth A. Broderick confirmed Wednesday that she sent a letter to the prosecutor in her murder case, in what she said was an attempt to show how unpleasant she finds her life in jail.

In a telephone interview with The Times, Broderick said she recently received a card from a former jail inmate that she called “the most obscene thing you’ve ever seen in your whole life.” So she sent the card to Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry Wells, the lead prosecutor in her case, along with a note that said, “Look what you’re subjecting me to.”

“I figured if I had to be subjected to this, she should, too,” said Broderick, who said the card depicted a pair of sunglasses resting on a man’s genitals. She said the front of the card said “something like, ‘To the coolest dude I know.’ ”

“I don’t want to be friends with these people,” Broderick said of her fellow inmates, many of whom treat her like “a celebrity. . . . But am I dumb? I’m going to be nice to these people. I want to get out alive.”

Broderick is accused of murdering her ex-husband, Daniel T. Broderick III, and his new wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, last November in the master bedroom of their Hillcrest home. The district attorney’s office contends that Elisabeth Broderick, angry that she had been shut out by her ex-husband and unable to win custody of their children, shot the couple in an act of vengeance. She has pleaded not guilty.

On Wednesday, Wells acknowledged receiving the letter when she appeared in court to argue the merits of her subpoena for Elisabeth Broderick’s bank records. Before she began her arguments, however, she told the judge that she had received “a letter from the defendant written to me.”

Later, outside the courtroom, Wells said: “It was not a letter I wanted to receive. It was vulgar.” When pressed for details, she said: “I don’t want to talk about the letter. It might be duly inflammatory, and I’m still concerned about having the trial in this community. You could say it was not a love letter.”

Jack M. Earley, Broderick’s attorney, said his client had told him about the letter, but he had not seen it.

“I would expect that the letter was sent with a sense of humor,” he said. “She has a tremendous sense of humor.”

Broderick concurred that the letter had been sent in the comic spirit.

“It was wonderful. You cannot suppress my sense of humor,” she said.

Municipal Judge E. Mac Amos Jr. ruled in Wells’ favor on two issues Wednesday: He denied Earley’s motion to quash Wells’ subpoena for the bank records, and, despite Earley’s attempt to win a second bail review for his client, he confirmed bail as presently set--none.