Lolo released! You Can’t Keep a Goodman Down – By: Jack Neworth

Written by: Staff on 3rd September 2012

Lolo released! You Can't Keep a Goodman Down - By: Jack Neworth |

Ironically, as the U.S. Open tennis tournament ends its first week, veteran line umpire, Lois (“Lolo”)Goodman, 70, accused in the coffee mug bludgeoning death of her husband on April 17^th, walked out of a Lynwood Jail on Sunday, September 2, all smiles and free as a bird. (Well, as a free as a bird can be facing a murder charge.)

After 13 days behind bars, Lolo, who has worked high-profile tennis tournaments since 1979, was able to make the $500,000 bail thanks to an extraordinary three-day fundraising effort of family and friends. Supporters used a website “loisgoodmandefensefund.com” and a Facebook page to solicit $40,000 in cash while numerous people put up their houses as collateral.

There are a myriad of unanswered questions and rumors, one of which is NOT will Lois umpire the last week of the Open while handcuffed to the net post. It’s preposterous and I apologize for having started it. (The same goes for Lolo’s first stop after getting out of jail being at the Pottery Barn to replace the coffee mug.)

But first, for those late to this story, that was covered in major newspapers, television and tabloids nationwide, here is a brief summary to where we are today.

On April 17^th, Lois Goodman returned to her Woodland Hills condo from a day of tennis refereeing. She said that she found blood in the foyer and a trail which led to her 80-year-old husband Alan, in bed, unable to breathe and later pronounced dead by paramedics. Goodman told responding police that she surmised Alan, a diabetic with high blood pressure, had fallen down the stairs while holding a coffee mug.

While paramedics reported that the bruises on Alan’s head were suspicious, police initially accepted Lolo’s story and allowed the body to be sent to a mortuary. In fact Alan was only 48-hours from being cremated when a coroner’s investigator, sent to sign the death certificate, found ceramic fragments in his skull.

Soon a police investigation was opened. On August 2^nd, a determination was made that Alan had been killed and his wife was the prime suspect. On August 14 an arrest warrant for Lolo was issued.

On August 21, in front of a mid-Manhattan Sheraton Hotel, Lois was arrested while wearing her official U.S. Open Ralph Lauren navy blue uniform. She cooperated with extradition and was flown back to Los Angeles. Supported by family and friends in attendance, in Van Nuys Superior court Lolo pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder.

Among the letters of support was one from Lolo’s daughter who said her mother always kept the refrigerator stocked with her father’s favorite food: herring and buttermilk. (The thought makes me gag.)

Alison Triessl, one of Lolo’s attorneys, informed the court that her client wouldn’t have been physically able to carry out a murder. Lolo has had two knee replacements and a shoulder replacement, suffers from chronic spine pain, rheumatoid arthritis and severe hearing loss. (Hearing impairment seems irrelevant unless she couldn’t hear her husband yell, “Stop!”)

But bail was reduced from $1,000,000 to $500,000, with the proviso that if Lolo raised bail she would be required to wear an electronic monitor. She would only be allowed to leave to go to medical appointments or religious services.

Outside the courtroom, Triessl told reporters that the police botched the investigation by waiting three days and that the evidence gathered therefore was tainted. She also made an inference to a real killer being out there, which brought back an unpleasant two-initial memory. (O.J.)

It is the prosecution’s theory that Lolo bludgeoned her husband with the coffee mug which broke in the process. They also contend that she used the jagged edge of the handle as a makeshift knife and stabbed Alan 10 times. (Ouch!)

While a motive for the crime has not been identified there have been many inferences. One is that Lolo may have had an online relationship with a “mystery man” allegedly supported by emails suggesting that she was contemplating “terminating a relationship.”

Other theories are that, with his declining health, Alan had become clinging, calling Lolo as many as 15 times a day. Whatever the motive, the murder charge includes premeditation. But realistically, would someone plotting to kill their husband, actually choose, as a lethal weapon, a coffee mug?

On the surface Lolo’s story that Alan fell down the stairs holding the coffee mug and managed to crawl back to bed where he died, is far-fetched. But the prosecution’s theory, that someone’s weapon of choice would be a coffee mug, seems equally far-fetched.

Lolo is due back in court on October 3^rd . At that time a date will be set for a hearing to determine if there’s enough evidence to hold her for trial. Unless there’s a plea bargain, a trial would seem a certainty.

In January, 1985, former NY State chief judge Sol Wachtler, as reported in the NY Daily News, said,”D.A.’s have so much influence on grand juries that they could get them to indict a ham sandwich.” I’m guessing the same will hold for Lolo going to trial. (Now, if Wachtler had said “herring” instead of “ham”, that would really be ironic.)

In the meantime, enjoy the 2^nd week of the Open. I wonder if Lois will be watching.

(An avid tennis fan, Jack Neworth writes a humor column every Friday in the Santa Monica Daily Press at www.smdp.com. He is also the co-author of”Men in White”, a screenplay about tennis legend Pancho Gonzalez and his rollercoaster forty-five-year friendship with fellow HOF player Pancho Segura. Jack can be reached at jnsmdp@aol.com.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Coffee Cup Murder, Lois Goodman, loisgoodmandefensefund.com, Lolo Goodman, US Open, US Open 2012

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