Testimony Ends After 7 Weeks in Broderick Murder Trial : Courts: Last witness, a sheriff’s deputy, says defendant showed no remorse over killings. Final arguments are to begin Wednesday.

Nearly seven weeks of testimony in the second murder trial of Elisabeth Anne (Betty) Broderick ended Monday with a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy who said the former La Jolla socialite never showed remorse over the killings of her ex-husband and his new wife.

Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan told jurors not to come to court today and said closing arguments will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The case is expected to go to the seven-man, five-woman jury by the end of the week.

Sheriff’s Deputy Maria McCullough said that, after testifying in last year’s trial, Broderick returned to the Las Colinas Jail in Santee and bragged about her testimony. McCullough said that Broderick never showed remorse.

“One day she came back and said, ‘I had such a good day at court today,’ ” said McCullough, who last year worked at the women’s jail, where Broderick has been held without bail for two years. “She stated to me that ‘I had the jury eating out of my hands.’

“Then she paused for a minute and said, ‘I think my crying had a really good impact on the jury. They ate it up.’ . . . She was excited, like a child would be,” McCullough said.

McCullough was the final witness called by the prosecution, which then rested its case. The defense rested after insisting on several stipulations, one being that the court consider the comments of bailiff Rita Long, who said that Broderick was often upset about being in court.

Defense attorney Jack Earley decided against putting Long on the stand but said her testimony would have shown that Broderick was often frustrated and upset about what had happened in the courtroom and did not gloat about her testimony.

As a bailiff in both trials, Long has helped transport Broderick to and from the courtroom and various holding facilities in the courthouse building where prisoners are kept before being bused back to jail.

Another prosecution witness, jail psychiatrist William A. Robinson, testified that he met with Broderick at the Las Colinas Jail hours after she had killed her ex-husband and his new wife. Robinson said he did not believe she had ever been suicidal or remorseful.

Broderick, 44, has admitted killing Daniel T. Broderick III, 44, and his second wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28, in the bedroom of their Marston Hills home on the morning of Nov. 5, 1989. Last year’s trial ended in a hung jury.

But Broderick maintains that she went to the house intending only to confront the couple and to kill herself.

Robinson testified that Broderick told him she wanted to kill herself after shooting Daniel and Linda Broderick but ran out of bullets.

He said that, in his meeting with Broderick, which occurred Nov. 6, 1989, she told him she was not suicidal because it would have violated her Roman Catholic beliefs.

He said she appeared “happy,” “outgoing,” “quite coherent” and “relieved.”

“She did not have the attitude of guilt--she had the attitude of anger,” Robinson said. “People who are angry do not kill themselves.

“The key thing that I look for in a suicidal person is they have some sense of responsibility or a guilt feeling,” and Broderick did not, Robinson said.

“She said that pressure had been taken off her,” he added. “She was just happy.”

Under cross-examination, Robinson was asked why he was testifying, since he had seen Broderick in a therapist-client relationship, albeit in jail. He said that, once such a relationship had ended, he felt free to testify.

James William Hargreaves, an attorney hired by Broderick in the fall of 1986, testified that she did not want custody of her four children at that time, despite his wishes for her to seek custody. Had she had custody, she would have “gotten more money,” he said.

“She felt that, since Dan had taken certain steps in leaving her, he should have the responsibility of keeping the children,” Hargreaves said.

Hargreaves said Broderick continued to hope for getting back together with her ex-husband and did not want a quick resolution of the divorce, which was made final in 1986. Hargreaves said he was fired by Broderick because “she didn’t think I was tough enough.”