A professional tennis referee accused of beating her 80-year-old husband to death was set for a court appearance Wednesday where her lawyer was expected to argue for her release.
Attorney Alison Triessl said in a bail motion filed Monday that 70-year-old Lois Ann Goodman wasn't a threat to anyone and the charges against her do not require the $1 million bail that was set upon her arrest.
Goodman has refereed matches between many tennis greats and was arrested last week in New York just before she was to referee at the US Open. She has been charged with killing her husband in April, although she has told police she didn't do it and that her husband most likely fell down the stairs while she was out.
Wednesday's bail hearing in a Van Nuys courtroom could also address defense claims that she was physically incapable of committing the crime. Triessl wrote in Monday's filing that Goodman has many infirmities, including knee and shoulder replacements, and couldn't have bludgeoned her husband to death.
The filing included more than 40 letters from family, friends and colleagues who praised Goodman's generous nature and said she was never violent.
Triessl asked in the motion that bail be lowered from $1 million to $100,000, or that Goodman be released on electronic monitoring.
A prosecutor did not file a reply. District attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said prosecutors would argue the motion in court.
