SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Betty Broderick, the socialite-turned-killer whose 1989 double murder captivated the nation, died at 78 from natural causes.
Just days after her death, a former prosecutor who handled her parole hearings is sharing new insight into why her bids for freedom failed.
Former Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs, who opposed Broderick at parole hearings in 2010 and 2017, says the reasons she remained behind bars came down to attitude and accountability.
"It was her defiant attitude and not accepting responsibility that kept her in there," Sachs said.
On a November morning in 1989, Broderick stole her daughter's key, walked into a mansion on Cypress Avenue in Hillcrest, emptied her .38, and shot and killed her ex-husband Dan and his new wife Linda in their bed.
Broderick was convicted of 2nd degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive 15-years-to-life sentences.
The case spawned a movie, a mini-series and books detailing a scorned woman's escalating rage.
At each of her parole hearings, the board issued a 15-year denial. Sachs says Broderick smirked through victim impact statements, banged on the table during the hearings and continued to maintain the gun just went off. Despite some positive factors — including Broderick mentoring other inmates — the parole board ruled she still represented a danger to society.
"They've endured so much, and it's been horrendous for all of them," Sachs said, speaking of the Broderick’s children and the victims' loved ones.
In a 2019 interview on the 30th anniversary of the murders, ABC10News reporter Michael Chen asked Sachs what he saw when he looked into Broderick's eyes.
"I saw a woman without remorse," Sachs said.
Sachs says that absence of remorse was central to the board's decisions.
"If she was remorseful and expressed insight and understanding into the crimes… the likelihood is very strong she would have been released," Sachs said. "Our position was she should have stayed in prison for life for such a heinous crime."
In 2019, Broderick wrote a letter to ABC 10News anchor Kimberly Hunt from a Corona prison, in response to a request for an interview. In it, she lashed out at the "crooked courts" of San Diego, along with the ex-husband she killed. Nowhere in the letter were any words of remorse.
"Even after all these years, the bitterness was still there, the anger was still there," Sachs said.
Broderick passed away approximately six years before she would have been eligible for another chance at parole.
The Broderick family released a statement following her death.
"She passed from natural causes and her children were with her bedside. We loved both of our parents and it was a complicated relationship with our mom for obvious reasons and with her being incarcerated the last 37 plus years. We will always remember her as an amazingly fun, smart, engaging and loving mom."
Betty Broderick is survived by 4 children and 7 grandchildren.
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