LOS ANGELES -- A prominent professional tennis referee who was preparing to work at the U.S. Open in New York City was arrested Tuesday on a felony murder warrant accusing her of bludgeoning her elderly husband to death with a coffee mug.

Lois Ann Goodman, 70, was taken into custody on a warrant filed a week ago by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office charging her with the April 17 slaying of her husband, Alan Goodman, who was 80 years old, prosecutors said.

The district attorney's office said Goodman would remain in custody in New York while awaiting extradition to Los Angeles, where she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors said they would ask for her bail to be set at $1 million.

She is accused of killing her husband by beating him to death with a coffee mug at the couple's home in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles.

Goodman is well known in tennis circles and was preparing to serve as a referee at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships tournament, a district attorney's office spokeswoman, Jane Robison, said.

The tournament opens Monday in New York with the men's and women's first-round matches