California: $320K settlement for man with lucky TV show alibi

He could have got a death sentence

A man who was cleared of murder when outtakes from the HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" put him at Dodger Stadium when the crime occurred will get $320,000 in a settlement with the city. The Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to settle the police misconduct lawsuit filed by Juan Catalan, who spent nearly five months in jail before footage from the show cemented his alibi.

Catalan, 28, was arrested for the May 2003 slaying of Martha Puebla, 16, outside her Sun Valley home. He told detectives he was innocent and was at a Dodgers game when the crime occurred.

His defense lawyer, Todd Melnik, went through footage of crowd shots from the televised game between the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, but did not find his client. Then he learned that the HBO comedy starring former "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David had been shooting at the ballpark that day. "There he was in the outtakes," said Gary S. Casselman, the attorney handling Catalan's lawsuit. "He's glad it's over."

The scene, which ended up on the cutting room floor, showed Catalan with his 6-year-old daughter and two friends. The footage was time coded, confirming that Catalan was at the ballpark shortly before the time of the murder 20 miles away. Records of a cell phone call, made from Dodger Stadium, between Catalan and his girlfriend also helped persuade a judge to release him.

Someone else is now being prosecuted for the slaying, Casselman said. Catalan was not a fan of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" before his time in jail. "He is now," Casselman said.

Report here

Background here:

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.

More background here:

You know Dan, I've got to tell you, this guy spent five and a half months in jail. And the reason that this all went down is because there was one eyewitness at the murder scene who looked at Juan's picture in a lineup and said that's the guy. But Juan didn't really match the height, the weight or the skin color of the man that everybody else had identified there. So it was rather thin to begin with.

An interesting side note for those who care, when presented with this evidence, the District Attorney's office refused to dismiss the case, contending there was a few minute window in which the defendant could have rushed out of Dodger stadium, driven to the scene, and done murder (meaning he would have had to leave in the middle of the game moments after being fortuitously filmed at the stadium). When the judge found out that they wouldn't dismiss, she did it herself. But, the District Attorney's office still wanted to either execute or imprison this person for the rest of his life despite proof of his innocence.

No wonder he sued the b*stards!



(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)