Trials
Betty hired attorney Jack Earley to defend her. The State of California was represented by prosecutor Kerry Wells. Betty's defense was that of Battered Women's Syndrome, claiming, that she was driven over the edge by years of psychological, emotional, and mental abuse at the hands of her husband, Dan Broderick. Kerry Wells portrayed Betty as a murderer who planned and schemed to kill her ex-husband. Kerry Wells argued to the jury that Betty was not a battered woman. She was getting $16,000 a month in alimony.
Dr Park Dietz for the prosecution, used the analysis of Dr Melvin Goldzband, who previously worked on the case for the prosecution. Dietz said Broderick has histrionic and narcissistic personality disorders.
Betty's first trial ended in a hung jury when two of the jurors held out for manslaughter, citing lack of intent. A mistrial was declared by Judge Thomas Whelan. Betty Broderick was re-tried a year later with the same defense attorney and prosecutor. The second trial was essentially a replay of the first trial. Prosecutor Kerry Wells was more successful in the second trial, when the jury returned a verdict of two counts of second-degree murder. Betty Broderick was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 15 years to life, plus two years for illegal use of a firearm, the maximum under the law. Betty has been incarcerated since the day she committed the murders.
Betty Broderick is serving out her sentence at the California Institution for Women (CIW), in Corona, California. In January 2010, her first request for parole was denied by the Board of Parole Hearings because she did not show remorse and did not acknowledge wrongdoing. Broderick is due to be released in 2021 and can reapply for parole in 2013. Two of her children who spoke at her parole hearing asked the board to release their mother. Betty's other two children spoke against Betty, imploring the board to keep Betty incarcerated.
Read more about this topic: Betty Broderick
Famous quotes containing the word trials:
“Why, since man and woman were created for each other, had He made their desires so dissimilar? Why should one class of women be able to dwell in luxurious seclusion from the trials of life, while another class performed their loathsome tasks? Surely His wisdom had not decreed that one set of women should live in degradation and in the end should perish that others might live in security, preserve their frappeed chastity, and in the end be saved.”
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