A professional tennis referee who was accused — then cleared — of beating her husband to death with a coffee mug cannot proceed with her federal lawsuit against Los Angeles police and the county coroner on allegations of false arrest and malicious prosecution, a judge has ruled.
Lois Goodman, 72, had sought unspecified damages on allegations of false arrest, civil rights violations, malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress in a complaint lodged in Los Angeles federal court two years ago.
City News Service obtained a 23-page order in which U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt determined that Goodman had provided insufficient evidence to bolster her allegations and granted a defense motion for summary judgment.
Robert Sheahen, one of Goodman’s attorneys, said he “respectfully disagrees” with the judge’s ruling, which was handed down late Thursday, and said he would file an appeal with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
According to her suit, Goodman has suffered ongoing “public humiliation” since being wrongly accused of bludgeoning her 80-year-old husband, Alan, to death with a coffee cup in April 2012.
Goodman was arrested in New York four months later, on the eve of a U.S. Open tournament, while wearing her referee uniform. Police alleged she clubbed her husband to death with a coffee mug in their Woodland Hills home, and then stabbed him with the broken pieces.
According to the judge’s order, LAPD detectives learned during the initial investigation that Alan Goodman’s doctor had recently completed an Adult Protective Services report, in which his wife was named as a person potentially responsible for neglecting her husband.
As part of the investigation into the death, LAPD officers interviewed the umpire on three occasions.
“In two of these interviews, Plaintiff described the scene at the resident as ‘violent looking’ and made statements to the effect that, had she been home at the relevant time, she could have been killed,” Kronstadt wrote.
Sheahen said any suggestion of elder abuse at the hands of his client was “preposterous.”
The initial police report listed the probable cause of death as “accidental/head injury,” according to the lawsuit. But days later, a coroner’s investigator reported he suspected Goodman’s husband had suffered “blunt force trauma’ on his head and ears, and a homicide investigation was launched.
In the ruling, the judge wrote that there was “sufficient evidence to support a finding of probable cause to issue a warrant” for Lois Goodman’s arrest on a first-degree murder charge.
“The Murder Book contained details about the entire investigation, including prior allegations of elder abuse of Decedent, statements made during witness interviews regarding Plaintiff’s behavior, and other evidence that supported the decision to arrest and charge” the woman, Kronstadt wrote.
Defense attorneys later revealed that the umpire’s DNA wasn’t found on the coffee mug. Goodman also passed a polygraph test conducted by a former FBI examiner that was arranged by her attorneys, according to the suit.
Goodman was held at the Van Nuys jail before being released on house arrest under electronic monitoring.
With little explanation, the district attorney’s office in December 2012 asked a judge to drop the murder charge against Goodman. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could choose to refile charges at a later date.
The lawsuit says Goodman has incurred more than $100,000 in legal expenses from the arrest, which she covered by liquidating her accounts, borrowing money from friends and family members, and selling her car and jewelry.
— City News Service