Broderick’s Attorney Says He’ll Seek 3rd Trial for Convicted Murderer

The attorney for Elisabeth Anne (Betty) Broderick said Monday that he is filing a motion for a new trial on the grounds that key witnesses were excluded from testifying during one or both of Broderick’s murder trials.

Broderick, who was convicted in December of two counts of second-degree murder, will be sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan, who presided over both trials. Whelan also will decide whether to grant or deny a new trial.

Defense attorney Jack Earley said the motion for a new trial is based in part on Whelan’s refusal to allow the testimony of a man who Earley alleges was solicited by Broderick’s ex-husband, Daniel T. Broderick III, in the hopes of having her killed.

Broderick, now 44, was convicted of killing her 44-year-old ex-husband, a prominent medical malpractice attorney, and his second wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28, in the bedroom of their Marston Hills home on Nov. 5, 1989. Her first trial ended in a hung jury.

Earley cited the following points as grounds for a new trial:

* The exclusion of parts of Betty Broderick’s diaries. Prosecutors were allowed to enter selected portions of the diaries, while Earley argued that the diaries as a whole chronicle the “emotional abuse” inflicted upon Broderick by her ex-husband.

* The exclusion of testimony from a San Mateo County prosecutor, who Earley says was prepared to testify about a conversation at a ski lodge, where Daniel Broderick allegedly said he hoped to have Betty Broderick killed.

* The exclusion of testimony by a hotel executive, who Earley says could “more fully” describe the role played by Linda Kolkena during her extramarital affair with Daniel Broderick and his divorce from Betty Broderick.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry Wells, who prosecuted Broderick in both trials, said Monday that she had heard about the motion for a new trial, but had not received formal notification. She said such a motion is “not unusual” after a murder conviction.

Wells said she intends to ask the judge for consecutive sentences at Friday’s hearing.

“There were two people killed here,” she said. “I would hope the court doesn’t view the life of either Dan or Linda as incidental. There are two families that have to continue living with the tragedy of losing someone they loved dearly.

“It doesn’t strike me we want to live in a society in which you can take out two people and get one as a freebie.”

Wells said friends and family members of both victims will speak in court Friday.

“They won’t testify--we don’t put anybody under oath,” she said, “but they’re allowed to make statements.”

Earley said he intends to ask for concurrent sentences, arguing that, “from all indications--from all evidence--it was one act. It took place in the snap of a finger. At the most, all it took was two seconds.”

Taking into account time already served, Broderick faces a minimum sentence of 17 years and a maximum of life in prison.