Posted on 06/02/2004 11:22:10 AM PDT by freepatriot32
LOS ANGELES (June 1) - "Curb Your Enthusiasm," an HBO show known for its acerbic wit, accidentally helped deliver a happy ending to a man who had been charged with murder.
Juan Catalan spent 5 1/2 months in jail on murder charges before his attorney found video footage taken by the show at Dodger Stadium that backs up his client's claims of innocence.
Police arrested Catalan in August, alleging he killed Martha Puebla, 16, in the San Fernando Valley on May 12, 2003, because she had testified against his brother in another case.
Catalan insisted he and his 6-year-old daughter were watching the Los Angeles Dodgers lose to the Atlanta Braves, 11-4, minutes before Puebla was killed about 20 miles north of the stadium.
He said he had ticket stubs from the game and testimony from his family as to his whereabouts the night Puebla was killed. But police still believed he was responsible, saying they had a witness who placed Catalan at the scene of the slaying.
Catalan said he asked to take a lie detector test, but was refused.
Defense attorney Todd Melnik subpoenaed the Dodgers and Fox Networks, which owned the team then, to scan videotape of the televised baseball game and footage from its "Dodger Vision" cameras. Some of the videotapes showed where Catalan was sitting but Melnik couldn't make him out.
Melnik later learned that HBO had been at the stadium the night of the killing to tape an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," a self-deprecating comedy starring "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David. The lawyer found what he was looking for in footage that had not made the final cut.
"I got to one of the scenes, and there is my client sitting in a corner of the frame eating a hot dog with his daughter," Melnik said. "I nearly jumped out of my chair and said, 'There he is!"'
The tapes had time codes that allowed Melnik to find out exactly when Catalan was at the ballpark. Melnik also obtained cell phone records that placed his client near the stadium later that night, about 20 minutes before the murder.
The attorney said it would have been impossible for Catalan to get out of the parking lot, change vehicles and clothing and play with his daughter as well as kill Puebla during that span.
Catalan, who could have faced the death penalty had he been convicted of murder, was released in January because a judge ruled there was no evidence to try him.
"To hear the words from the judge's mouth, I just broke down in tears," Catalan, 26, said Tuesday. "It was the happiest moment in my life."
Catalan, now raising his family and working with his father as a machinist, has submitted a claim against the city of Los Angeles, alleging false imprisonment, misconduct and defamation of character. Puebla's murder remains unsolved and the case against Catalan's brother, who is accused of being the driver in a drive-by shooting, is still pending.
Prosecutors and police did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Other evidence also helped dismiss the case against Catalan, but the videotape "had extreme dramatic effect," Melnick said.
The show was hardly about the ballpark crowd that night. It focused on David hiring a prostitute, not for sex but to be a passenger in his car so he could travel in the carpool lane and escape traffic on his way to the stadium.
pretty soon this guy is going to be able to buy the studio that makes the show after his multi million dollar payday
Wonder if any of the genius prosecutors who botched this case will pay for it? If past behavior is any indication, the answer to that is no.
And, for what it's worth, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is the funniest show on TV, hands down.
I agree, although it does take a few episodes toget into it..but after that.
Ya Ja
True enough. I spend most of the episode cringing in embarassment for Larry. My wife can't bear to watch more than an episode at a time--makes her too tense.
Man, and Jeff..his agent. That guys wife is a train wreck!!
I think the show's quality declined drastically this past season, although the episode in question was on form. The first two seasons were often brilliant, though, and a real litmus test among my colleagues here at a Hollywood studio that shall remain nameless. The liberals all hated CURB, because despite his own yellow dog DemLib credentials, Larry David can't help being honest about the fatuous self-absorption of his target class, the rich West Side liberal. And the truth hurts.
Although, the episode with the hooker at the baseball game really made me laugh.
Why should they? They had a witness who supposedly put Catalan at the scene of the murder, and the video of the Dodgers game couldn't confirm that Catalan was in the seat matching his stub. On the basis of what were they supposed to release him?
The system worked. Catalan has an iron-clad alibi backed by video, and the whole world knows about it now. How has his character been defamed, as he plans to allege?
That's exactly how I describe it to people. Until I saw 3 or so episodes, I hated it. Now I love it.
Until you realize you're not supposed to really like Larry, and you're supposed to enjoy how he let's little things annoy him to the point of blowing up into a grand fiasco, the show can seem annoying. Sometimes things just happen to him, but usually it's his own fault.
That, and people need to realize the dialog sounds odd because it isn't scripted. The actors are thrown into the scenario and told what has to happen.
SD
But there was. I notice also that he had offered to take a polygraph and had been "turned down." System's broken.
Would one of your 'fixes' of the broken system be to accept a polygraph over an eyewitness?
But there was.
I notice also that he had offered to take a polygraph and had been "turned down." System's broken.
Would one of your 'fixes' of the broken system be to accept a polygraph over an eyewitness?
'Innocent until proven guilty' is still the law of the land. But there is no way he could have been "proven" guilty...because he was in fact innocent. All evidence to convict HAD to be circumstantial.
What a good break. Poor guy was probably headed to death row.
I note the article says "He refused a Lie detector" as if this is to throw doubt on his innocence.
Fwiw, NEVER take one of these. They will never, ever be used to show your innocence, merely to remove doubt from your guilt(despite your actual status on guilt).
Detectives use these for fishing expeditions when they don't have much in the way of hard evidence.
Actually it states that he asked for a lie detector test and was refused. Big difference.
My mistake. My comment still stands, had he passed a LD, there would have been an expert supplied at the trial claiming how they can't be trusted.
Actually, since the results are inadmissable in a court of law during the trial of a capital crime, any mention of a polygraph examination being administered to the defendant would have met with an objection from the opposing consel and would rightly have been sustained by the judge.
I've got nothing but burning, seething hatred for what I call "mad dog prosecutors" - out of control "public servants" who will break the law themselves, lie to the press, and violate the rights of their "targets" in the name of boosting their conviction numbers for their future politcal campaigns.
I hope the guy wins his lawsuit, and the PIGS behind the sham prosecution are hung out to dry.
Excuse my vehement remarks, but I've been through that kind of un-American treatment from those who have given lip-service to upholding and defending the Constitution, only to trash it for the sake of their own political little political games.
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