You know the old saying: Coffee mugs don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people

File photo -- probably not the coffee mug alleged to have been
used by tennis official Lois Ann Goodman to brain her husband

by Ken

Since the high-priced mouthpieces of the National Coffee Mug Association (NCMA) are going to be out in force in the weeks to come, applying all their craft to spinning this latest incident of alleged coffee-mug violence, readers are advised to rely on their common sense, coupled with all available scientific literature on homicides and other serious spouse-to-spouse injuries inflicted by coffee mug, which shows that the overwhelming majority of these incidents would never have occurred if the perpetrator had instead had ready access to a weapon less likely to be deployed in the heat of marital strife, like a gun.

From DNAinfo.com:

U.S. Open Referee Arrested for Murdering Husband with Coffee Mug

August 21, 2012 4:30pm | By Mary Johnson, Irene Plagianos

MANHATTAN -- A 70-year-old referee for the U.S. Open tennis tournament was arrested in Midtown on Tuesday for allegedly beating her husband to death with a coffee mug.

Lois Ann Goodman, who is in town from Los Angeles to officiate at the U.S. Open, was apprehended at the Sheraton Hotel, NBC New York reported.

At a Tuesday evening arraignment Goodman was charged with murder and with being a fugitive from justice. Goodman waived her right to fight extradition to California.

She requested through her attorney that she be allowed to return to her home state as soon as possible -- even though California uses the death penalty.

"She wants to as quickly as possible go back to California and fight this case," Goodman's attorney Allen Farbman said. "She does not want to stay here and, probably, languish in jail."

Goodman uttered "yes" quietly when asked if she was waiving her right to an extradition hearing.

Goodman allegedly murdered her husband "with a coffee cup by striking him about the head and stabbing him in the head," according to the criminal complaint filed with the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Manhattan Criminal Court judge Erika Edwards set Sept. 4 for Goodman's next appearance, after which she'll be taken back to California. But Edwards said that date could be switched to an earlier date.

Goodman is being held without bail.

Police have been investigating the death of Goodman’s 80-year-old husband, Alan, since April 17.

Then last week, police in Los Angeles obtained a warrant for Goodman’s arrest, but Goodman was already in New York for the annual tennis tournament.

Prosecutors with the Los Angeles district attorney’s office reportedly plan to request $1 million in bail.

A spokesman for the NCMA, who requested anonymity on the ground that his mother would be deeply ashamed, commented in response to growing calls for tighter restrictions on the availability and deployment of coffee mugs:

While I can't of course comment on any specific case that may be involved in active legal proceedings, I can say in general that the use of coffee mugs in spouse-on-spouse violence is exceedingly rare. It strikes me as far more suggestive in this case that the alleged perpetrator is a tennis official, or that she's from Los Angeles.

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