No Verdict in Broderick Case as Jury Recesses for Weekend

Jurors in the second murder trial of Elisabeth Anne (Betty) Broderick deliberated for most of the day Friday without reaching a verdict but selected and picked a medical librarian as jury foreman.

Broderick, 44, is accused of murdering her ex-husband, medical malpractice attorney Daniel T. Broderick III, 44, and his second wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28, in the bedroom of their Marston Hills home Nov. 5, 1989.

Last year, jurors deliberated for four days before announcing that they were hopelessly deadlocked. Jurors in the second trial began deliberating Thursday but left about 3 p.m. Friday, putting off further deliberations until Monday.

George Lawrence McAlister, 40, who works at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, is the jury foreman. He lives in Rancho Penasquitos, is married to a speech pathologist and is the father of two children, ages 10 and 5.

McAlister and other jurors were asked detailed questions during jury selection about marriage and divorce, infidelity, alcoholism, emotional and physical abuse, attempted suicide, motherhood, obscene language, religion, firearms and the differences between the sexes.

At one time or another, all of those topics were mentioned or became issues in both Broderick trials. Last year, 10 jurors favored a murder conviction and two held out for manslaughter.

McAlister, who said he attends the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has a masters degree in library administration. He said he attended the University of San Diego School of Law for one year.

He said on his jury questionnaire that he had never been divorced, although his parents were. He said one of his closest friends had been divorced and physically abused during marriage, and, as a result, he has strong feelings about spousal abuse.

Much of Elisabeth Broderick’s defense relates to her allegedly having been emotionally abused by her husband during 16 years of marriage and during a divorce and custody dispute. She also contends that, on several occasions, Daniel Broderick tried to hurt her physically.

McAlister said on his questionnaire that, as a child, he was trained briefly in firearm safety by the National Rifle Assn.