The family of Lois Ann Goodman, the professional tennis official accused of killing her husband with a coffee mug, echoed on Tuesday defense attorney’s claims that the 70 year old is "not capable" of murder.
"My mother did not do this. She is not capable, physically or emotionally, to do something like this," said Allison Rogers, Goodman’s daughter.
Prosecutors accuse Goodman of stabbing her 80-year-old husband and the father of the couple's four daughters in their Woodland Hills home last April by using a mug as an improvised knife.
In court documents, Rogers insists the pair never exchanged "a foul word" and that "there was never once any sort of violence between the two of them.”
“My mother is a wonderful person. She was married to my father happily for fifty years they never fought and always had a loving relationship,” Rogers said.
The family reiterated claims by Goodman’s attorneys that the accusations are untrue because, in part, several knee and shoulder surgeries and chronic back pain make it physically impossible for Goodman to kill her husband.
Prosecutors say the bloodied scene at the couple’s home does not coincide with Goodman's initial story that her husband had a heart attack and fell down the stairs.
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Officers ruled the death suspicious, because they initially couldn’t determine if foul play was involved, according to an LAPD press release.
But after launching a full homicide investigation and working closely with the L.A. County Coroner’s Office, detectives determined on Aug. 2 that Alan Goodman was killed and they named his wife as the prime suspect, the LAPD said.
Goodman was arrested on Aug. 21 in New York, where she was set to work as a line judge at the U.S. Open.
Goodman’s family and friends raised the $40,000 needed to bail her out of jail Sunday after 13 days in custody. She’s been required to wear an electronic monitoring device.
Shortly after her arrest, Goodman waived her right to an extradition hearing, saying she was anxious to return to LA to defend herself.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 3.
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