A phone number was listed in the log. Once again they switched on a recorder. In August 2003, they arrested Juan Catalan, Mario's brother, for Puebla's murder. Thank you for posting. Juan Catalan: How Did An LA Dodgers Game Change His Life Drastically? He also became a big fan of baseball and also Curb your Enthusiasm. Some went to a firing range to test a gun they wanted to use, discarded it as unacceptable and found another. Fortunately, he was able to remember that someone in his section mentioned that the famous actor and comedian Bob Einstein, who plays Marty Funkhouser on Curb your Enthusiasm was in attendance. California AG's wife . According to reports, he had been arrested as a teenager for breaking into cars. He pushed three six-packs in front of him. She argued that there was plenty of time for Juan to leave the stadium and drive the 20 miles to commit the slaying. . I dont agree with you, and I have the evidence to prove it, Pinner said. Look at anything you want. And we hooked him up with everything from the stadium, all the footage we shot that night.Im there for maybe five minutes, and the lawyer screams out, There he is!We couldnt believe it. Based on bad information from sources, the detectives pinned the slaying on Juan Catalan -- Mario Catalans brother. which is not a strategy that a defense attorney representing a client will employ? But Juan Catalan said he was at a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game -- not a drive-by shooting -- at the time of the murder. Catalan begged the detectives to believe him, that he had nothing to do with Pueblas death. Still, authorities continued to blame him as the crime was committed minutes after the LA game ended. Yet despite the settlement, a Gofundme page organized by Melnik last March in support of Catalan says that Juan "still struggles today" financially, working in his father's machine shop to support his three children. And when he was eighteen, he caught a home-run ball as it sailed into the stands. Catalans lawyer also tried to prove that he was actually at the game by looking through television footage of the game which again was not a piece of strong evidence especially because Catalan was not seen in the video. Juan Catalan was put on death row and spent nearly 6 months in jail for the murder of a teenage girl, until his lawyer found . She recalls not being nervous at all for the audition, because she expected not to get the part. I looked at tape after tape. He also went ahead to focus on his education by earning an associate degree in general education. Brown down the street saw you doing this, because you put their lives in jeopardy.. With everything against him, and with the prosecutor, Beth Silverman, who wanted the death penalty to be applied, the defense lawyer, Todd Melnik managed to corroborate that Juan Cataln had sat in one of the 27,548 seats occupied that night in Dodger Stadium, where the home team fell 11-4 to the Atlanta Braves. They agreed. Detectives are not allowed to strike deals with suspects in exchange for a confession, and they are not allowed to threaten them with bodily harm. It didn't matter. (60 Minutes) In the first of many coincidences surrounding Catalan's case, Puebla had been a star witness in a court case where his brother, Mario Catalan, was a defendant. He stayed in the car while the girl went to Pueblas ground-floor window and asked if she wanted to come hang out. What Juan Catalan endured at the hands of the Los Angeles police is no laughing matter, but it's comedy that saved him. A judge threw out the case, and Catalan was awarded $320,000 in a wrongful-arrest suit. Catalan and Melnik are "best friends" now. Just watched it based on this referral. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, A new Netflix documentary is to tell the story of Juan Catalan, a man falsely accused of killing a 16-year-old girl, On the night of the murder, Juan had gone to watch baseball at Dodgers' Stadium in Los Angeles, His legal team were able to prove he wasn't at the scene of the murder thanks to footage shot for the show Curb Your Enthusiasm, Juan and his defence lawyer Todd Melnik in 2004, holding the proof that Juan wasn't involved in the murder, Juan's story has now been made into a Netflix documentary. The days passed and while the presence of Cataln could not be verified in the game and not near the crime scene, the Hispanic man lived hours of terror in a maximum security prison. His girlfriend Alma was driving. But Juan Catalan said he was at a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game -- not a drive-by shooting -- at the time of the murder . He was an outcast, perhaps, in his Dodgers hat, considering it was the Yankees and Indians on the field below. "Bingo.Within days, Melnik met with David and the show's producers to go through outtake footage from the filming of the "Car Pool Lane" episode that would air the following spring. Although Catalan's attorney, Todd Melnik, eviscerated police for failing to do their job properly, Catalan has spent his post-jail time finding forgiveness for the officers who put him in jail, a process he says his mother encouraged. Juan's wife's name was "Alma," but It didn't seem to matter to police that he had never owned a white Ford F150 and had never been to Mexico. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, LLC. Jenya Lano: What Are The Interesting Details To Know About The Actress? Not in my mind. Juan Catalan Director Of Pharmacy Operations at Carepoint Pharmacy Rolling Meadows, Illinois, United States 439 followers 432 connections Join to follow Carepoint Pharmacy Morton College About. He was later awarded a $320,000 settlement for police misconduct, false imprisonment, and defamation in 2007. I have multiple witnesses who are going to testify that you were the shooter.. Unlike his brother, Catalan was a law-abiding citizen and doting father. Plastic letters marking pieces of evidence dotted the street. What Caused, Can Botox Help You in Looking Young? However, since the tapes were time-stamped and located Juan at the stadium around 9PM and the murder didnt occur until around 10:30, the prosecutor wouldnt budge. Right name and its still on. They soon were separated as partners. From that small clue, Melnik got the help of the Dodgers' media relations department to find the production company that filmed at Dodger Stadium that day. According to ABC News, Catalan is now a "devoted fan" of the acclaimed comedy series. During the OJ Simpson case very early on I learned that they had used cell tower pings in order to locate OJ on that slow speed chase and that has always stuck in my mind, he told Bartlett. And then there was another shot where he was standing up. Other LAPD detectives searched the car Ledesma and Catalan had driven to Mexico. Property News:Music promoter Michael Coppel sells Toorak home for more than $30 million - domain.com.au, Your web browser is no longer supported. Pain Hustlers A woman struggling to raise her daughter becomes involved in a dangerous racketeering scheme after taking a job at a failing pharmaceutical start-up. His relationship to the game is forever altered by the alibi that bought him back his freedom and quite likely saved him from the death penalty. ago We rewound the tape, and just as Im walking up the aisle in one shot, this guy is sitting right there. Mario Catalan, the suspect's brother, was a co-defendant in that case. The prosecution argued that Catalan had enough time to drive home and commit the murder, so Melnik took a strategy from arguably the famous criminal case of all to defend his client. It was such a bad experience, and to have all this good come out, I just feel blessed. But before he was proven innocent, he had to face the possibility that his life would be reduced to another tragic statistic as he lived his life behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Who is Heather Hopper? Creepy Catalog is owned by the Thought and Expression Company, a small, independent media company. After a few minutes, she approached the car, where she found Vargas body riddled with bullets. Even your cell phone location data can be used to prove if you were at a location or somewhere completely different. As he await his trial for capital murder, Melnik was able to provide proof that his client was at a game using video footage of Larry Davids HBO comedy show, Curb Your Enthusiasm which captured Catalan at the Dodgers game. As Pinner and Rodriguez worked Pueblas murder scene, the truth was on the tape of Ledesmas jail-cell call. The cagey comic wanted to use the carpool lane to avoid the clogged freeway full of fans headed to the Dodgers' game. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Its just mindboggling of all the what-ifs in this case to make this alibi, at least a good portion of this alibi to come to life, Melnik told Bartlett. He quickly enlisted lawyer Todd Melnik to defend his case. Eleven days before she was killed, Puebla testified at a preliminary hearing in Ledesmas murder trial. In addition to his flies and his genes, Juan had passions and interests that he carried with his proven sobriety. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. A new Netflix documentary is to tell the story of Juan Catalan, a man falsely accused of killing a 16-year-old girl Credit: Netflix. Like why? Hawaiian Eye Cast: Who And Where Are They Today? Why are people treating me this way? Catalan told Ledesma about the weapon immediately. My brother was accused of a murder he did not commit, and it took me months of constant investigation - 50 hours or more per week - to gather the evidence necessary to establish conclusively it was not him. ", "Juan remembered that Super Dave Osborne was one of the actors in the show," recalled defense attorney Todd Melnick during an appearance on "Good Morning America" in June 2004. According to Innocence Project, approximately 20,000 people roughly 1% of the prison population arefalsely convicted of crimes. Case Summary. Catalan told Melnik he was at Dodger Stadium watching a baseball game with his seven-year-old daughter Melissa the night of the murder. Melnik, who had pored over countless hours of stadium surveillance footage but couldnt find anything that was clear enough to identify Juan, contacted HBO and asked if he could review their outtakes for the show. Shortly before 2 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2002, a girlfriend of Pueblas pulled up outside her house. Mystic Meg zodiac signs latest: Riches in store for Capricorn & major changes await Gemini; plus weekly horoscopes, I went into politics after my MP sister Jo Cox was murdered 6 years on, I haven't come to terms with what happened, Being sexy is no longer about natural looks - glamour girls & TV stars look like filters, its scary, says Sam Fox. Makes you really call into question the quality of their investigation and ability to collect facts and evidence, when this happens. Was Seargeoh Stallone Suffering From Autism? Two days later, Pinner and Rodriguez caught a break. Juan remembered they may have been filming something there that day.We were in for an enormous fight. Tl;dw: this man (Juan Catalan) was accused of murdering a girl. To watch Out of Left Field in full, and for more on 60 Minutes, head to the, 'Frightening' attack on police before man shot dead in Sydney, Reports indicating Stalin was murdered hidden for decades, Extreme weather to hit nation with fire warnings then snow, WorldPride grand finale: Show of unity for history-making march, By Liz Little 60 Minutes Digital Producer.