How Curb Your Enthusiasm Saved Juan Catalan From Death Row

Devoted husband and father Juan Catalan was going about his ordinary life in May 2003 when his world came crashing down.

The police accosted and arrested him for a heinous crime—the cold-blooded murder of a young woman.

This was news to Juan, and he told the police as much.

**Photo of Juan Catalan outside Dodger Stadium via NYP.**

Although in shock, he presumed it was a case of mistaken identity and believed the stressful mishap would soon be corrected.

After all, since he’d not committed the crime, there’d be no evidence to tie him to the incident. This wasn’t the case.

Eyewitness testimonies placed Juan at the scene of the crime, and circumstantial evidence led straight back to him.

In the blink of an eye, everything Juan once held so dear—his freedom, his family, and his life—had been taken away from him.

There was just one thing Juan had that could prove he couldn’t have committed the crime: a possible alibi.

After working out the dates, he knew he was at the Dodger Stadium watching a game the night the victim was slain. The subsequent struggle was being able to give investigators solid evidence of this.

Frustratingly, for Juan, this proved to be trickier than he first thought.

In an unexpected twist, though, the truth was uncovered. It took a stroke of good fortune, a determined lawyer, and a famous TV comedy program, but Juan’s truth was eventually brought to light.

In a true crime case like no other, Juan Catalan was saved from death row by a taping of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The Arrest Of Juan Catalan

Juan lived in LA with his young family. His life revolved around his 6-year-old daughter, and he loved nothing more than taking her to see their team play: the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The sport was a shared interest for Juan and his child, and the pair would often go and watch baseball together, pick up a hot dog, and cheer from their seats.

Even when the Dodgers weren’t playing, Juan would still make an effort to pick up tickets and enjoy an evening out with his daughter.

On May 12, 2003, the Dodgers were playing the Atlanta Braves, and the father-daughter duo wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

They went with his cousin and another friend, though the game didn’t go too well: the Dodgers lost 11-4.

To cheer up his daughter, Juan bought her some baseball cards on the way home. He would drop his cousin off, call his girlfriend, and then he called it a night.

All of the above would seem like enough of a solid alibi should you be wrongly accused of murder. For Juan, sadly, this wasn’t the case.

As he was cheering on his favorite team that night, a young girl called Martha Puebla was slain in Sun Valley, California.

In August 2003, while he was spending time with his family, the police swarmed Juan and arrested him on suspicion of murder. He had no idea what they were talking about.

When the police informed him of his suspected crime, he was horrified: the point-blank shooting of a 16-year-old girl. Juan was rightly panicked, but he knew he was innocent and was sure he could prove it.

But why was he arrested for the crime? Juan’s brother, Mario, inadvertently tied him to the murder.

A Wrongful Arrest

A precocious and kind teen, Martha became entangled with gangs as she grew older. The 16-year-old had recently testified against Mario in a murder case involving gang violence.

It was suggested her brutal shooting was carried out by Juan as retaliation and to silence her permanently.

Whether Mario ordered the killing or Juan did it without instruction, nobody knew, but it seemed law enforcement was convinced they had the right man.

Then, there was the singular eyewitness who said they saw Juan at the crime scene, which was just outside Martha’s home.

This ended up sealing Juan’s fate. There was no DNA evidence to tie Juan to the crime, nor was there any other physical evidence to link him to the case. Just circumstantial evidence and one eye witness.

Juan insisted he was innocent, and despite the lack of solid evidence, prosecutors pushed on and charged him with first-degree murder. It wasn’t just life in jail Juan was facing; it was the death penalty.

As the months rolled by, it seemed less and less likely the charges would be dropped. Juan was stuck in a prison cell, pleading with investigators to look into his alibi more closely.

He was at the Dodger Stadium with his daughter and multiple other people who could vouch for him. Why weren’t they listening to him?

The alibi was allegedly not good enough.

Behind bars, Juan had only one hope: his attorney, Todd Melnik. Without Todd’s persistent search for the truth, the ending of this story may well have been very different.

How ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Saved Juan

Todd knew Juan’s alibi was worth pursuing—it was the only proof they had that he couldn’t have committed the crime. But, it wasn’t going to be easy to persuade investigators that he didn’t carry out the shooting.

After all, thousands of people were at the Dodger Stadium that night, and just because he bought a ticket didn’t mean Juan actually attended. He could have even bought the ticket to act as his alibi.

Todd reviewed phone records, Juan’s ticket stubs, and footage of the game that night. None of it would sway law enforcement into dropping the charges.

Then, months into his incarceration, Juan remembered an important piece of information: camera crews had been filming something near where he was seated. It was possible—Juan wasn’t sure—that the cameras picked him and his daughter watching the game.

It was a long shot, but Todd had to follow the lead. It could shatter the case against his client into pieces.

The crew Juan was referring to was filming an episode of the hit sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm. The episode “The Carpool Lane” is now infamous due to Juan Catalan’s case.

The episode depicted Larry David attending a Dodgers game, and the cameras recorded hours of raw footage. If Juan was right, there was a high chance he was in some of that footage.

HBO, the company that airs the program, was receptive to Todd’s request for all the footage recorded that day.

He trawled through hours of film, and after a while, it seemed like a waste of time. Then, he saw it: Juan in his Dodgers jersey, sitting next to his daughter, just as he said he had been.

**The image of Juan Catalan at the game.**

Finally, the film was time-stamped. It proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that Juan couldn’t have committed the crime.

This was big news for Juan and Todd. Although the police had rejected other evidence that showed Juan wasn’t the culprit, the pair hoped that this undeniable evidence would free the innocent man.

The footage was played in court alongside other evidence, including Juan’s phone records that showed he’d made calls that night from Dodger Stadium. There was no doubt about it: Juan was not guilty.

All charges were subsequently dropped, though this didn’t change the fact that Juan had spent half a year in jail for a crime he never committed.

More than that, he’d also spent those six months worried he’d find himself on death row and his daughter would have her father stripped away forever.

The story made news not just because it was unusual but also because it shone a light on how cases with such flimsy evidence were able to proceed to charges.

It solidified the belief that anyone, at any time, can be arrested for a crime they didn’t commit. It also drove home the idea that there could well be people on death row who don’t deserve to be there.

Juan eventually received a $320,000 settlement from a lawsuit against the police force and the city of LA. The detective spearheading the case was removed from the homicide team, and his partner was moved to another department.

The case of Martha Puebla was also solved, with four men eventually being pinpointed and arrested. Unlike Juan’s case, there was enough evidence here to convict them of the teenager’s murder.

She had been killed due to her being a witness to the gang’s illegal acts, and the men sought to silence her from speaking to law enforcement.

Juan’s tale was reenacted in the 2017 documentary Long Shot. The 40-minute program was released on Netflix to positive reviews.

As you’d imagine, Juan is now a die-hard fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm. After all, without the show, he could very well be sitting on death row.