Betty Broderick denied parole

The Board of Parole Hearings on Thursday denied parole for Elizabeth “Betty” Broderick, serving a 32 years to life sentence for killing her former husband and his new wife in 1989.

“I’m proud of our office’s work to keep this inmate behind bars,” District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis said Friday after the hearing at the California Institution for Women in Corona.

“We handle hundreds of parole hearing each year, doing our best to make sure dangerous criminals are not released and crime victims are given a voice. That’s exactly what happened today.”

The hearing was the first for Broderick, 62, convicted in December 1991 of killing 44-year-old Daniel Broderick and 28-year-old Linda Kolkena Broderick in their bed. She is eligible to request another hearing in three years, according to Gordon Hinkle of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Broderick was convicted of murder after two trials. She testified that her only intention the morning of Nov. 5, 1989, was to confront the victims about ongoing divorce and custody problems, then kill herself.

Instead, the defendant fired five shots from a .38-caliber revolver because Linda Broderick yelled “Call the police” and Daniel Broderick, a prominent medical malpractice attorney, lunged for the phone.

Her attorney urged the jury to hand down a verdict of manslaughter.

The case spurred national media coverage, several documentaries, books and two made-for-television movies, starring Meredith Baxter as Broderick.