Prosecutors Won’t Seek Death Penalty for Broderick

Prosecutors said Tuesday that, partly out of consideration for her four children, they will not seek the death penalty for Elisabeth Anne (Betty) Broderick of La Jolla, who is accused of killing her ex-husband and his new wife.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry Wells said that San Diego County Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller’s decision hinged in part upon the fact that all four Broderick children--Kimberly, 20; Lee, 18; Danny, 14, and Rhett, 11--will probably be witnesses in the case.

“There are four children that were pretty horribly traumatized by the events in this case,” Wells said shortly after Broderick, 42, was arraigned on two counts of murder in San Diego Superior Court. “They’ve already gone through a lot. They’ve lost their father. They’ve lost their stepmother, and I think it just seemed that putting them in the position of having to play a part in perhaps losing their mother to the gas chamber is just too much.”

Jack M. Earley, Broderick’s attorney, said he and his client had expected the announcement but she was not overjoyed.

“I don’t think you could ever ask someone to be relieved if they’re facing life without possibility of parole,” he said. “That’s not something that any of us would jump for joy to find out.”

Broderick is accused of shooting Daniel T. Broderick III, 44, and his 28-year-old wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, early on the morning hours of Nov. 5. On Tuesday, she renewed her not-guilty pleas and denied the prosecution’s claim that there are special circumstances in the case. A trial date will be set Thursday.

Also on Tuesday, Earley shed some light on his strategy. He said he has not ruled out an insanity defense but his immediate focus will be moving the trial out of San Diego, where Broderick says she cannot get a fair trial because her ex-husband was a prominent malpractice attorney.

Broderick has admitted the killings, but Earley said he will attempt to paint a portrait of how his client got “to the point that she got to”--a process that will rely heavily on the testimony of lawyers and judges who were involved in the Brodericks’ protracted divorce.

For that reason, Earley said, he has serious doubts that the case could be tried in San Diego without the appearance of impropriety. He said he will “definitely” seek a change of venue and plans to file motions to recuse specific judges and the bench as a whole if need be. “It’s going to be very hard for any judge in San Diego to make impartial rulings as to whether a judge should be a witness in this case,” Earley said. “It’s going to be very difficult to have a jury trial where one of the issues might be the conduct of the bench and how they treat attorneys who are involved in litigation versus a private citizen.”

He continued: “If we attack the judicial system in San Diego and talk about the way that it treats different genders, men versus women, that judge who we are saying doesn’t treat women fairly is going to be the judge that’s sitting before that jury. So it just creates the appearance of impropriety.”