- Previously on "Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story"...
- The only thing an attorney ever did for me was lose.
- Will you at least let me help you try not to lose?
- Could you have come across Betty's China?
If you give the China back,
it could be a little olive branch.
- Or I could break it.
I mean, that's what she would do.
- I find that Mr. Broderick will retain sole custody.
Mrs. Broderick is awarded formal visitation rights
on alternating holidays and weekends.
- I don't want to see you or the whore
or the slums where you live
or any of your bullshit anymore.
I close my eyes, and I see you and the whore
doing all your wonderful things.
You made my life a nightmare.
You're gonna be real sorry.
- California civil jury instruction number 1707.
"An opinion may be considered a statement of fact
if said opinion suggests that facts exist."
Now, in deciding this issue, you should consider whether
the average listener would conclude,
from the language of a statement and its context,
that the person was making a statement of fact.
Here's a statement of fact.
Very few people understand what I just said,
including myself.
[laughter]
- Well, also, really, how many wine tastings
are you gonna want to do? - True.
- Yeah, and you can't count on the weather.
- Yeah.
- So then what does that leave?
Just Mexico, right?
Cabo or Acapulco.
both: Cabo. [laughter]
- Where's Betty think we should go?
- Nancy.
- You should ask her. She might tell you.
- Can you imagine
the message she would leave if you did that?
- Wait, she went to jail for it,
but she's still leaving you messages?
- [laughs]
- What happens when two people
perceive the same thing differently?
If your perception of a given event
doesn't line up with mine,
whose perception of that event is true?
Now, we're not talking about people who are
clinically mentally compromised.
Those individuals need medical and psychological treatment,
not legal counsel.
- "Is anybody home?
"Who was that who picked up earlier?
"Maybe it was the whore.
"She's supposed to answer the phone at the office
"and spread her legs at the house.
Why can't she get that straight?"
- Oh! - [laughs]
- Whether they've been injured or sued
or charged with a crime,
your clients' interest must be your ultimate concern.
And their perception of reality is the one that matters.
So, as their lawyer, you need to uncover facts
that support that perception,
because your client's perception is their truth.
And serving them means doing your utmost to show
that their truth represents the ultimate truth.
- "She has ruined six lives, and hers was never anything
that counted to anyone anyway, so..."
- Oh, my God. - [gasps]
- "She had nothing to lose-- has nothing to lose.
Once a whore, always a whore."
- [laughs]
- How have you dealt with this?
- She's a witch.
- It's unbelievable. - An evil witch.
- She needs to go back to jail.
- ♪ Goin' to the chapel
♪ And I'm gonna get married
♪ Goin' to the chapel of love ♪
[laughter]
Cabo.
all: Cabo. - It's gotta be Cabo.
- There are those who consider truth to be universal.
Those people are not trial lawyers.
Or--scratch that.
Those people are not successful trial lawyers.
[light laughs]
Successful trial lawyers are absolutely seekers of truth.
They are seekers of it, but more important than that,
they are the ones who define what truth is.
[dramatic music]
♪
- The humiliations I put up with,
the stories I heard about myself.
No Christmas, no birthdays with my kids.
Everything I suffered, everything I didn't react to,
I didn't stand up for, I didn't fight for.
You know Alice "Through the Looking-Glass"?
You know that dark tunnel she fell down?
That's you.
[dark music]
♪
- In the backyard where? At that house?
- Yeah. - How many people?
More than 100? - I think so.
- What's she wearing? Is she wearing white?
- Yes. - [laughs]
[inhales]
What's he wearing?
- Um, a gray suit
that's, like, long in the back,
with a gray vest.
- A morning coat?
Morning dress?
It's exactly what he was supposed to wear
to our wedding, but he refused.
He said he didn't want to wear rented clothes.
My mother was humiliated.
[scoffs]
Where's the honeymoon?
- Like, Caribbean somewhere.
- Getting married in April,
in morning dress, taking her to the Caribbean.
Is there anything about this that Dan Broderick
didn't already do with me, or refuse to do?
- You guys got married in a church.
- Jesus.
He didn't think I wouldn't find out?
About the clothes and the--
He knew I would. He could pick any month,
any clothes, any place.
Why those? - Okay, Mom, I have to go.
Bye.
[click, dial tone]
- [sighs]
- Throw to second is high. - And it's caught.
Out by a mile.
- Mom. - Hey, shake it off.
- Next in the lineup is Kirk Gibson.
- Ooh, Kirk Gibson. Kirk Gibson is up.
He plays for the Dodgers, right?
- Yeah, yeah. He's really good.
- Two outs. Here we go.
- To deep center field, and no one is there!
- Oh, come on, this is stupid. - And the third baseman scores!
Whoo-hoo! - I hate this.
[loud thud]
- Hey, no, no! Don't move.
Stand back.
[dramatic music]
♪
I have to show you guys something,
but you have to promise you'll never, ever touch it.
I love how I have to get you back by 4:00
just to get leave you with a housekeeper.
Anthony Broderick.
- Thanks. - What did it look like, again?
- Okay, it's a blue dress
with slippery fabric and a belt.
- Okay. - And if it's not
in Tracy's room, that means she took it to Colorado.
- Okay.
- Hey, Gladys. - Hi, boys.
Did you have a nice time?
[lightly edgy music]
♪
[door clicks shut]
♪
- Found it.
- Thank you, honey. - Mm-hmm.
- I love you. - Love you.
- Okay.
[lightly edgy music continues]
♪
- This was the only place that had enough tables
to rent that weekend.
- And suddenly, now they don't?
- Well, they have the number of tables that we need,
but for six and not for eight.
- Just rejigger everyone into tables of six.
- Yeah. - What?
We just throw the place cards up in the air,
and wherever they fall, divide by six.
- I'll throw you up in there air.
They are your friends and colleagues.
Let me show you how it has been carefully sorted
into groups of eight that can't just be rejiggered.
- Can we order pizza? - Uh, you know what?
I think Linda has plans for the evening for dinner.
- What? - I don't know.
We should ask her. - Um, it's not there.
Have you seen it?
- Not where? Seen what?
- The invite list, the list.
It was next to the phone. I was talking to Amelia.
- I haven't seen it. You sure you left it there?
- [sighs]
- Maybe it got moved when
the downstairs was being vacuumed.
- She brought you home.
Did she come in the house?
She's not allowed to do that. You are not allowed
to let her-- - Linda.
- What? It was probably like Christmas when she saw it.
And what she's gonna do, burn it?
- Why don't you guys go start your homework?
What do you want on your pizza?
- Same as-- - Large. Half meatball.
- Good call.
Okay, don't worry about it. She's not gonna burn it.
And if she has it-- - Oh, she does.
- She'd be thrilled about it, okay?
She'd probably keep it forever if we let her,
which we won't.
- Why won't she just leave us alone?
- We'll get it back.
- How?
[answering machine beep]
- Hi, Mo and Joanna. It's Betty.
Just in case you were planning on going to Dan's
stupid shitty wedding to his office girl,
I just felt like you should know you're not invited.
Anyway, I hope you're well. Bye!
[dialing]
- Where's Anthony?
- Bathtub, still.
- Hey. Linda's really sorry.
It's hard putting together a wedding.
A bride needs everything to be perfect.
If something goes wrong, she ends up yelling at people,
even if it's not their fault.
- Can I tell you something?
- About weddings?
- Mom has a gun.
- Yeah?
- It's in her room.
She told us never to touch it,
but she also told us that she'd take us to shoot it
so we know why never to touch it.
Is it okay that she has it?
- Well, she's not keeping it a secret.
She wanted you to tell me.
That's why she showed it to you guys.
She wants me to know.
- She said that she needs it.
'Cause she's living alone now, and she's scared.
[dark music]
♪
[footsteps approach]
- Mardi Gras. Since Easter's in March.
- I love it. Oh, phone's for you.
Don't worry, not your kids' school.
- Okay.
This is Betty.
Hello?
Nobody's there.
[suspenseful music]
♪
- [laughs]
♪
- Oh, is Mrs. Broderick here?
- Uh, no. She isn't.
She's supposed to be meeting with you?
- She leaves the door unlocked when she's at work.
Are you her daughter? - No, I'm her friend.
I was just picking something up.
I really have to run.
- Smells nice in here. Lemony.
- There's messages on the machine.
Oh, I found the earring.
I put it in the dish on your night table.
Also, a girl was here when I came.
- Which one?
Tracy's the brunette and Jen's the blonde.
- Young blonde, but one of their friends maybe.
She said friend. She came to pick something up.
What? What did she pick up?
[dramatic music]
♪
The notebook, my notebook that's always right here...
Did you move it? - No.
- Where is it? It's always right here.
- I don't--
- You won't even look at it?
- What's in it doesn't matter.
What matters is that you went into her house to get it.
You broke into and entered her house.
- The door was unlocked.
- Fine, the door was unlocked, so you trespassed.
You trespassed and stole her property.
- Like she has done to us so many times.
- Exactly. That's what she does,
not what we do. We do not do that.
- "I have nowhere to turn. I am desperate.
"If this is the way domestic disputes
"are settled in the courts,
is there any wonder there are so many murders?"
- Just put it back where you found it.
- What? How?
- I don't care. Just do it.
- What if I'd been scheduled to work this afternoon?
What if I hadn't listened to the machine?
A 4:00 hearing? That leaves three hours
to get here, to get you here, or otherwise what?
I go back to jail?
- Did you?
- Did I what?
- Did you take it, Betty?
The list. Their wedding list.
- Why would I want--
I don't even know what they're talking about.
- Well, obviously, they say you do.
And if the judge sides with them,
he's going to sanction you.
- Counsel.
- Your Honor, this accusation is baseless.
My client says she does not have the property in question.
- This latest offense is completely in line
with a well-documented pattern of behavior, Your Honor.
- I know.
Here's what's gonna happen.
As requested, I am ordering Mr. Broderick
to withhold financial support of Mrs. Broderick
until she either produces the list in question
or puts forth a plausible explanation
as to where it might be.
Ms. Anstead, prepare the order, and I'll sign it.
Thank you.
- Please, Betty.
What is going on?
[ominous music]
♪
Linda: Skin a mess. Nails bitten to blood.
Weight never higher.
So unhappy, so lonesome.
Can't fit into any of my nice clothes.
Dan: I am madder than hell at lying, cheating,
scumbag Broderick.
I have every right to be.
It would be crazy if I weren't.
Linda: I am a very up... Dan: [laughing]
Linda: Forgiving, friendly person.
Dan: Oh! - I try not to dwell on
[echoing] disappointment. [Dan laughing]
I try not to dwell on the past.
[echoing, laughter] I try not to dwell
on the past. [laughter]
[dramatic music]
♪
- It's not hard to imagine
that she would want to cause trouble on the day.
- Or before when everything is being delivered and set up.
She knows that if she ruins any of this
that we'll have to cancel.
- We could go down Saturday and come back Monday.
- I don't know, Karen. I don't think so.
- Okay, all right. Well, then what is something
we could do for the day? Like a nice drive?
- But she hasn't specifically told anyone about
how she might be planning to disrupt the ceremony?
- Not specifically.
- Just that a lot of people have told us
that she's joked about shooting us.
- I was thinking about buying a watch.
A really gorgeous, diamond bezel thing.
And having it engraved.
- Engraved with what?
- The date.
April 22, 1989.
- And she owns a firearm, you said?
- We've heard that she does, yeah.
- And wh-who would it be for?
- For me, Karen.
It would be for me.
- Well, I tell you what.
I'll come over Sunday at, like, 8:00, 8:30.
We'll talk about that. I'll see you Sunday.
- See you Sunday.
- What about a security system? Have you given any thought--
- Yeah, we thought about it.
- You have a photo of your ex-wife you can lend us, sir?
- She's about yea high, dark blonde, blue eyes,
nothing a guy--or guys like you couldn't handle.
Just keep your eyes peeled for a woman by herself
who looks like she doesn't belong.
[ominous music]
♪
- She doesn't want to leave town,
and she wants to buy a watch
and engrave it with Dan's wedding date.
- Ugh...all right.
Which one do you want?
- Are they both the same? - They're different colors.
- [sighs]
- Okay, so if you beep me 911,
that means you don't know where she is.
- Oh, we're doing this now?
Okay, fine, but I think we need an intermediate number,
a "don't panic, but" number, a "heads up" number.
- Which would be?
- I don't know. Maybe 666.
And then 911 would be the "I can't find her,
"we don't know where she is, maybe tell Dan
she might be on her way over there now" number.
- [sighs]
- Who offers to host a bachelor party
when they're allergic to cigars?
- Mmm. - Who?
Look at us, standing in his backyard
like goddamn derelicts.
- [laughs]
Pretty nice back here.
- Really is.
Nice little pond over there and everything.
- Mm.
[muffled music, voices]
- So there's gonna be security at your wedding?
- Just a couple of guys parked in a car through the weekend.
If I didn't tell you about it, you'd never notice.
- They gonna be armed?
I've heard Betty's been randomly talking to people
about how she was an intramural sharpshooter at college.
- [laughs]
- Or something. I don't know.
- That's what Betty does. She talks.
- And drives trucks into your house.
- [laughs]
- Walt Mills said he's not even coming.
That if Betts has a hit list, he's on it.
- Just stop. Everybody stop.
The only thing Betty cares about is money.
That's the only thing she has ever cared about.
Without me, there isn't any.
She's not gonna kill the golden goose, Richard.
She just isn't.
- [clears throat] Well, there's more to you
than money, Danny boy.
- Is there?
- Probably. I mean--
- [laughs] - I assume.
[men's muffled voices]
[classical piano music]
♪
- Wow.
How many buttons?
- A lot.
And all Irish lace. - Mm.
How much do I love your mom's hat?
- Me, too.
She beautiful?
- She is.
I see where you get it.
- Do you feel sorry for me?
- No, I don't.
You can do anything you want, Betty.
And now you're gonna have to.
But I know you can.
[upbeat music]
♪
- It's a mixtape.
- That you made?
- Uh, don't patronize me.
- I know, but...you made a mixtape?
- Of songs that I like. Now can I just please dance?
- All right, fine, but if you're dancing,
I am dancing.
- ♪ Says she loves me, yes, yes, she does ♪
♪
♪ Gonna show me tonight, yeah ♪
♪ Hey, she got the way to move me, Cherry ♪
- ♪ She got the way to groove me ♪
♪ She got the way to groove me ♪
- ♪ All right
♪
♪ Whee ha
♪ Tell your mama, girl, I can't stay long ♪
[both squealing, laughing]
♪ We got a thing we gotta catch up on ♪
♪
♪ Mmm, oh you know what I'm sayin'...♪
- Born breech, like the girls.
7 pounds.
[sniffles, clears throat]
He lived for four days.
- What was his name?
- [cries]
I thought about how the girls were so young,
they wouldn't even miss me, and...
Dan didn't seem to care whether I was around or I wasn't.
But then there started to be California.
The idea of California.
Warm.
Different.
Better.
And I didn't really want to die.
It's hard to kill hope in people.
Especially when they're young.
- I know this day was hard.
But it's over now.
You never have to go through it again.
[ominous music]
- Hi, we're back, all tanned and rested.
Please leave us a message.
Hi, we're back, all tanned and rested.
Please leave us a message.
[beep]
The letter on the court order states girlfriend.
Get the girlfriend off the machine.
Now I'm your wife.
- You know what you're doing.
You are bright and rational and stubborn.
A strong-willed person.
A loving person who exhibits immaturity
and poor judgment under tremendous pressure.
The state of your home, your lifestyle,
these things that you say are hindering you--
from my perspective as your therapist,
none of that is important.
Your children live in a luxurious lifestyle,
and they are in crisis.
Help them and yourself.
I urge you, Betty, get them home.
- Everything I can afford is either a condo or an apartment.
I saw one condo that could be okay.
- How many bedrooms does it have?
- Two, but yours would be smaller than your one here.
You might have to... think about bunk beds.
- Cool! - Henry and Charlie
have bunk beds.
- Really? - Yeah.
- That makes me feel better.
All right, well, maybe the next weekend you come,
we can go looking.
[TV playing]
- Well, not the next one.
Travel soccer round robin is next one.
- No, that's the 21st.
- Dad takes us to Indiana the 21st.
You know? The football game.
Notre Dame and USC.
- Who's "us"?
- Well, us, Dad,
Tracy, and Linda.
[muffled] And some of dad's friends
are coming, and their families, right?
[TV music]
- [chuckles] Thank you.
[game announcer over TV]
- Good game. Close game.
- Mm, maybe. But don't worry.
We'll still be taking home the Shillelagh.
[background chatter]
- I actually met my husband in South Bend.
'65.
Notre Dame to the Shillelagh that weekend, too.
- '47. At the Coliseum.
[laughs]
So we're both Notre Dame wives.
- I'm not.
He left me for his secretary.
That's who's there with him.
With him and our kids and our old friends.
In the place where we met and fell in love.
- Ugh.
I'm--is there...anything--
- I just really wonder what the other wives are thinking.
Seeing this young thing adoring Dan.
And they're fortysomething, too.
Maybe their husbands will go off, and...
find some young chickie.
Then they'll be gone, just like me.
- We finally saw it. You have to tell Rich.
- Oh, my God. Did Frank cry?
- Oh. - No.
But when the catcher takes his mask off
and it's Kevin Costner's father,
he dropped his ticket stub on the floor
and really, really had to find it right away.
- [laughs]
Did you tell her we'd be here?
- I haven't seen her in months.
- Yeah, maybe she saw one of our cars.
- Hiya.
I was driving by and suddenly, I just knew
you were all in here.
- So how are you, Betty?
- I was fine, which isn't saying much.
But, uh, then my lawyer got a letter from the bastard
saying they're going to the Greek Isles
with their friends, and while they're gone,
they would like for my sons to be left
with the housekeeper during the week,
and then on weekends with a friend of the whore.
So now I gotta go beg a judge to let me
be my sons' mother for two weeks
while their asshole father isn't even in the country.
I mean, can you believe this cruel, phony,
evil piece of shit?
I mean, of course you can, but can you?
- Hi, we're back, all tanned and rested.
Please leave us a message.
[answering machine beep]
[uneasy music]
♪
[dialing]
[line trilling]
- "Dear Mr. Baxter, I really wonder
"whether you are serious about trying to work out
"a shared custody agreement.
"There are many fundamental problems with your proposal.
"Unless you reorient yourself
"to the point of these negotiations,
"that you initiated I might add,
[echoing] "I don't see any reason to go into them.
[voice becomes Dan's voice] I suggest you try again."
Enclosed please find a verbatim transcript
of just a few of this week's
obscene answering machine messages.
You should know that since Judge Russell's final ruling,
your client has committed at least 20 separate,
similar acts of contempt.
I am sure that if we are forced
to seek the court's assistance
in enforcing the extant restraining orders,
another jail sentence will be imposed.
[ominous music]
I find your client's actions completely inconsistent
with the contentions of her psychotherapist
that her emotional disturbances
and mental disease are improving.
The contrary seems to be the case.
♪
- Well, what did he say?
- He said it's too much
and it was the first place I saw
and I should probably have a roommate.
- No. Take it.
- [laughs] - I'll pay for it.
- Mom, no.
Yes! The last place you lived was like a jail cell.
- Mm.
Thanks, Mom.
- You're welcome.
Serves him right.
Letting Linda Kolkena tell you to give up your seat
at a family function to her.
- That's not what happened.
- There were five people and four chairs
and you were in a chair, and she asked you to move.
- Okay-- - Is what you said.
And your father just let her. - Mom.
I'm not gonna tell you anything anymore.
Serves you right.
[dramatic music]
♪
[door opens, closes]
- Around every corner,
there is some gorgeous tile staircase or cobblestones.
I knew that none of my pictures would turn out
like the real thing,
but I couldn't stop taking pictures.
Oh! - Mm.
- Everything was so beautiful.
I just wanted to remember it all.
- Well, I just want to talk about where we're going next.
both: Australia.
- Australia! - Yeah.
- Wow! - We don't have time
to plan a trip like that this year,
or let alone go, but...
- Maybe next year. - Maybe.
- Maybe, right?
- What--what is that?
Maybe what?
- Uh...
- Should I-- - Uh--
- Maybe we... won't be free
to just pick up and go places, is what.
- And, um, why might that be?
- Well, because, uh, maybe
there'll be a new member of the family at some point
that, uh, we'll have to think about
when we're making travel plans, Celeste--that's why.
Maybe! - Ah...
- All right, let's order some food.
[laughter]
Okay, look, I'm gonna get the tournedos,
and then you get this-- what is it?
The... - The cassoulet.
And then we'll trade plates.
- Yummy. - You guys are plate-traders.
- Oh, I like us to trade plates.
[muffled, fading] - Only if...
[continues indistinctly]
[uneasy music]
-I have a feeling that this was
his last year trick or treating.
[laughs]
I mean, I think that he still had fun
but just the way that he was talking about it.
I think this time next year it's gonna suddenly be
beneath his dignity.
Betty? - Mm.
- What'd the boys go as?
- Uh, fireman and an Army man, I think.
Dan had said I could take them out,
but then they called, and...
Said they weren't coming.
- That's, uh...
I'm sorry.
- Wasn't my first Halloween without them.
But you're right. It was probably the last one.
Is Linda pregnant?
- How would I know that, Betty?
- Everyone knows everything before me.
- Here you go.
John's so jealous we're getting bunk beds.
- Did he get his cast off finally?
- Yeah. His arm was so white underneath.
They're taking him to Disneyland.
- Who, his mom and dad?
- Yeah. He asked me to go, too, this weekend.
But I said I couldn't 'cause if I went,
I wouldn't get to see you.
- [cries]
[sniffling]
I don't want to be the reason you miss things.
- Don't cry again, Mom.
- No, I know. I'm just tired.
- Then you should get some sleep.
[dark music]
♪
[dark music continues]
♪
[uneasy electronic music]
♪
- There's a scene in the "Superman" movie
where he flies around the Earth real fast,
and he screams this blood-curdling scream.
♪
That's what I felt like.
♪
Standing up and doing a primal scream so loud
the whole world would wake up and go, "What's that?"
It's Betty Broderick going over the edge.
[suspenseful music]
♪
But, you know, nice girls don't do that.
♪
So I just did the scream inside.
[phone rings]
- Hello?
Hello?
Slow down. I can't understand you.
You did what?
[phone rings]
- Hello?
Was that you calling before?
I'm sorry I didn't pick up. I'm just so tired, I--
What?
- Who is this?
Who is this? You're scaring me.
Betty?
- What's the matter?
Can you stop crying? I-I can't...
What happened?
- The cops didn't know anything about it.
They couldn't even really understand--
Yeah, I'm just gonna go over there.
Yeah. Just check. See what's going on.
Some sort of prank.
- Sh-she said she doesn't know.
[shaky breath] She said it was completely dark,
and she said that he was talking to her.
[line trilling]
- Hi, we're back, all tanned and rested.
Please leave us a message.
[beep]
- Betty Anne. Betty Anne.
Are you still there?
[dramatic music]
♪
- We still--I mean,
no matter what...
you went into Dan's house and fired a gun.
And we don't know if he...
But I think regardless, we need...
Turn yourself in.
Okay? We need a lawyer.
To find a lawyer, criminal lawyer.
Someone who'll come in on a Sunday...
to help you through the...
with the police.
[unsettling music]
♪
- Hi.
Uh...
I'm Matt Carpenter.
Um... we should probably get going.
It was just, um...
they're--they're both, um...
yeah, it was on the radio.
- This is number four on the arraignment calendar,
docket ending 646.
The People of the State of California
versus Elisabeth Anne Broderick.
[taps gavel twice]
- Good morning, everyone.
Mrs. Broderick is charged with two counts
of first-degree murder.
Mr. Carpenter, how does your client plead?
- We enter a plea of not guilty, Your Honor,
and request a jury trial.
- Your Honor, as to bail,
the defendant stole keys, illegally entered,
and given the severity of the charges--
- Mr. Norris, no need.
Given the seriousness of the charges,
the defendant is remanded.
Motions will be heard on the 28th.
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