Professional tennis official Lois Goodman was "thrilled" to be invited to work at the U.S. Open a year after she was arrested at the event and accused of bludgeoning her husband to death with a coffee cup.
Goodman, 71, was reinstated as a U.S. Tennis Association official after the case against her was dropped in November, seven months after her 80-year-old husband was found dead at the couple's Woodland Hills home. Goodman said she has been working at events from the beginning of the year, officiating at college, junior and senior tennis events, but that the U.S. Open represented something special.
The tournament ended Monday.
"I love my job," Goodman said Tuesday on the "Today" show. "I was so thrilled to be invited back to work. It just meant everything to me."
Goodman, appearing with her attorney, was asked if people treat her differently after the arrest.
"It's different," Goodman said. "They say things behind my back."
Attorney Alison Triessl added, "Everywhere she goes, people look at her and they jeer. Her life has been forever changed because of this."
Goodman, wearing her USTA jacket, was taken into custody last year at a New York City hotel just before the U.S. Open. She spent two night in Rikers Island jail before she was transported back to Southern California.
The next week, she was wearing an orange jail jumpsuit for a court appearance, accused of using a coffee cup to kill her husband.
Goodman called 911 April 17 to tell authorities she found a trail of blood leading to the body of husband Alan Goodman in their West San Fernando Valley residence, according to the criminal complaint. The coroner's office later described the death of Alan Goodman as a "multiple sharp-force injuries homicide."
The charges were dropped in November.
Prosecutors said they received new information and had insufficient evidence to charge Goodman. The announcement came after Goodman’s attorneys said that her DNA was not found on the coffee mug and that she had passed a lie detector test.
Goodman filed a federal lawsuit last month against the Los Angeles Police Department, the county coroner's department and others for false arrest and malicious prosecution.
