Judge Won’t Restrict Broderick Testimony : Court: Betty Broderick is free to say what was on her mind before she shot and killed her ex-husband and his new wife, the court rules.

A San Diego Superior Court judge indicated Tuesday that he will not restrict Elisabeth Anne (Betty) Broderick from testifying at her upcoming murder trial about virtually anything that had an effect on her state of mind before she shot and killed her ex-husband and his new wife.

But, Judge Thomas Whelan said, he is not inclined for either side to put on a parade of witnesses to back up or contradict what she says from the stand.

Broderick almost certainly will testify, her defense lawyer, Jack Earley, said at the close of the final pretrial hearing in the case.

“She will get her day in court,” Earley said.

Broderick, 42, faces two counts of murder in the shooting deaths last Nov. 5 of her ex-husband, Daniel T. Broderick III, and his new wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick. They were shot as they slept in their Marston Hills home.

Daniel Broderick was a prominent medical malpractice attorney and a former county bar president. After 16 years of marriage, he and Betty Broderick divorced in 1986.

During and after the bitter divorce, Betty accused Daniel of using his legal influence to cheat her out of her fair share of his seven-figure income.

Betty Broderick confessed to the killings in a March interview with The Times. She said they were a “desperate act of self-defense” against a man who wanted to control her.

The trial begins Sept. 27 with jury selection.

Echoing Betty Broderick’s comments to The Times, Earley repeatedly has indicated that he is likely to argue during the trial that the killings were committed in self-defense.

Whelan, however, said that the law allows a jury to decide whether self-defense applies only in cases of an imminent threat of death or great harm. The current state of the law does not recognize a long pattern of abuse, even if proven in court, as that sort of imminent threat, he said.

Still, Whelan said, Betty Broderick may testify about any incident during the divorce battle--or from any other time during the marriage--that she believes was unfair or unjust, as long as she explains how it provoked her or affected her mental state.

Whelan said he would not allow other witnesses to testify about Daniel Broderick’s character, whether that testimony was favorable or not. The judge said he did not think those comments would be relevant.

Earley consistently has hinted that Daniel Broderick abused his former wife. But he said Tuesday that he had no plans to call other witnesses to discuss that purported propensity.

Whelan also said he did not plan to allow any other witnesses to testify about the merits of any of the rulings made by various San Diego judges during the course of the divorce. A proper challenge to rulings from the divorce case was through an appeal, not in a murder trial, Whelan said.

Earley said after the hearing that a strategy emphasizing a theme of self-defense was still worth pursuing. But, he added, Whelan’s rulings would make it an “uphill battle.”

In other rulings Tuesday, Whelan allowed Earley and Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry Wells access to the Broderick divorce files, which had been sealed. The files remain closed to the press and public.