Betty Broderick ,the La Jolla socialite who was convicted of murdering her ex husband and his young wife, by shooting them in their own bed is once again making national headlines. Betty Broderick was scheduled to have her first parole hearing after spending nearly twenty years on January 21, 2010. She was sentenced to thirty-five years to life for the murders of her ex-husband and his wife. The California parole board did not find Broderick’s testimony compelling and denied her request for parole. It will be fifteen more years before the now, sixty-two year old Broderick will be again eligible for parole. Broderick was described at the parole hearing as being “still angry and unremorseful”.
Broderick was found guilty of murdering her attorney, ex-husband, Daniel T. Broderick II and his young wife Linda Kolkena Broderick. She reportedly shot both of them on November 5, 1989 while the couple was still in bed in their home. Broderick’s defense was that she had suffered years of emotional abuse from her husband. The couple had divorced in 1985 ending a sixteen year marriage. Betty Broderick had reportedly accused her ex husband of “trading her in for a younger and thinner woman”. The conviction of Broderick did not come easily, as her first trial ended in a hung jury. This crime caught the fascination and in many cases the sympathy of the public inspiring two television miniseries and several books.
With Broderick again in the news, it brings to question how many other women have murdered their adulterous husbands and what type of sentences have they received. My conclusion is that there have not been very many. I have found six high profile cases (including Broderick) of women who have been convicted of murdering their husbands. Out of those six Broderick and Clara Harris are the only ones whose motive had to do with their husband having an affair or leaving them for another woman. It seemed to be much more common for the convicted wife to have been the one having an affair.
The cases that I looked at were:
Pamela Smart – Convicted of conspiring with her fifteen-year-old lover to murder her husband. She is serving a life term in a New Hampshire prison.
Kristen Rossum – Rossum is serving a life sentence in California after being convicted of murdering her husband following his finding out about her affair.
Lynn Turner – She was convicted of murdering her husband via poison in 1995 and then murdering a boyfriend in 2001. She is serving a life sentence in a Georgia prison. Her motives were said to be monetary gain.
Larissa Schuster – Convicted of murdering her estranged husband and then dumping his body in acid is serving a life sentence without parole in a California prison. Her motive again was said to be monetary.
Clara Harris – Harris is the Texas woman who was found guilty of murdering her husband. Harris is currently serving a twenty year sentence in a Texas prison. Because the jury found extenuating circumstances in her case stating that she had “acted in sudden passion” when she ran over her husband with her car after finding out that he had been having an affair with a co-worker, she will be eligible for parole after ten years (2013).
While I agree that it is very uncommon for a woman to “snap” and murder her husband after learning of his affair, there is also the possibility that a sympathetic jury may find a reason to not convict them. There is the story of a recent case involving a Georgia Woman, Laurie Alexander.
Recently A Gwinnet County, Georgia jury found 47 year-old Laurie Alexander who was on trial for the fatal stabbing of her husband Kent Alexander not guilty of his murder. The jury stated that there was not enough evidence. Alexander had spent the past two years in jail after being accused of murdering her husband on December 8, 2007. According to news accounts, Kent Alexander had been a “raging alcoholic” who had been fired from his job for taking pills. He had also been reportedly having a long-term affair.
While women are much less likely than men to murder their spouse it does occur and sometimes the results are surprising.
Sources:
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/dacula-woman-acquitted-of-278229.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012101586.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Smart
