Lois Goodman Case: Tennis Line Judge's Attorney Says Case 'Got Out of Hand'
A judge has dismissed the case against Lois Goodman.
Dec. 3, 2012 — -- The attorney for the U.S. Open line judge accused of killing her husband with a broken coffee mug complimented Los Angeles prosecutors for standing up to police and getting the case, which he says "got out of hand," tossed out.
A judge Friday dismissed the case against Lois Goodman, 70, and exonerated her bond. Alan Goodman, 80, died in April at his California home.
The line judge said she found her husband dead in bed, saying she believed he had crawled there to rest after a terrible fall. She said she was pleased when she learned Friday that her case had been thrown out for insufficient evidence.
"I was so happy. Elated. I can't tell you," Goodman told George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" today. "It came earlier than I thought it would, but I always knew, somehow, justice would be served, and my name would be cleared."
Goodman has always maintained her innocence, even passing a lie-detector test. She said her husband suffered a heart attack, and then fell down the stairs. Her attorney Robert Sheahen told "GMA" that prosecutors had a "moral and ethical obligation" to dismiss the case against Goodman, and saw it through.
"The prosecutors did a great thing here," he said. "DAs don't stand up to the police department. They don't dismiss these cases. For these prosecutors to dismiss this case, they did a good thing.
"They dismissed it; more power to them. I give them all of the professional credit in the world. It got out of hand. The prosecutors corrected it."
Goodman was arrested in August, days before the U.S. Open began, while wearing her referee uniform. Police alleged she bludgeoned her husband to death with a coffee mug in their Los Angeles home, and then stabbed him with the broken pieces. The grandmother said that since she was arrested shortly after her husband's death, she has had no time to grieve.
"I wasn't there. Poor thing … I beat myself up all the time. If I had been at home, I could have helped him. But I wasn't. It's just hard for me to realize that he's gone, I miss him," she said.
Alison Triessl, another attorney for Goodman, was equally thrilled with Friday's news. She told "Good Morning America" that allegations that her client was having an affair were false.
"This idea that she was having an affair was preposterous and ridiculous," Triessl said. "And we knew that she didn't have the physical or mental capabilities to do something like this. So that's what we set out to do, was to show the world that she had not done anything."
Appearing on "GMA," Goodman spoke of her experience after her arrest in New York and incarceration at the city's Rikers Island prison complex.
"[Rikers] was horrible," she said. "Dark and dingy, and it was depressing. Terrible, in the cell for 23 hours out of 24. [It was] hard, I couldn't believe it."
Goodman has had a notable career, sparring with tennis greats such as John McEnroe, and even getting an apology from Andre Agassi after he questioned a call.
"I want to go back to work," she said. "I miss my friends and being on the court, and my friends said, 'I've already got you booked on four tournaments that I'm running, so clear your calendar.'"
ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
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