Shortly before 2 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2002, a girlfriend of Pueblas pulled up outside her house. 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. According to reports, the homicide detectives in charge of the case, Martin Pinner and Jose Rodriguez, who were certain Juan was the killer, just wanted to set him up and end the case. In August 2003, the young father was targeted by ten undercover police officers and violently placed under arrest. In court, the file was handed to Beth Silverman, a prosecutor proud of never losing a murder conviction. When you hear a grown man, you know, cry for help, and youre like, helpless, its a feeling like, man, just of completeno hope. 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. Upon hearing all the evidence, the judge in the case dismissed all the charges and Juan was a free man. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, Press J to jump to the feed. I'm very happy Juan Catalan had a dedicated lawyer. While representatives for the Los Angeles City Council confirm the amount of the settlement, it does not come with any admission of wrongdoing on the part of police officers or the city. He asked to take a lie-detector test. . The cagey comic wanted to use the carpool lane to avoid the clogged freeway full of fans headed to the Dodgers' game. Martha had earlier testified in a another gang-related murder . After a few minutes, she approached the car, where she found Vargas body riddled with bullets. The ruse, as Pinner would later call it in court, was a legal move. At least 5 people shot at San Pedro beach, Safety concerns and weather conditions hamper San Bernardino County relief efforts, ICE detainees allege retaliation for speaking about medical conditions at Otay Mesa center, Downtown L.A stabbing sends six to hospital; suspect arrested, San Diego Roman Catholic diocese facing yet another lawsuit from its insurance company. Juan (Imanol Arias), the impoverished son of a Chinese magician, discovers that his aristocratic Catalan wife (Ornella Muti) has been cheating on him. Witnesses had signed their names. 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. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. He repeatedly professed his innocence, and asked to take a polygraph test, a request that the police denied (note: polygraph tests aren't admissible in court). 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. Her name starts with an M . After spending six months in jail, Juan Catalan became a free man. Im Martha, she responded. She had not told detectives much at all. A TV show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, contains raw footage that was instrumental in proving his innocence. In the first of many coincidences surrounding Catalans case, Puebla had been a star witness in a court case where his brother, Mario Catalan, was a defendant. Soon after regaining his freedom, Juan Catalan and his lawyer, Melnik became best of friends and was regularly seen playing basketball and watching games together. Future news of events, Zoom movie marathons, books, and streaming updates will be delivered first to our newsletter readers. The show then follows how Todd's legal team then were allowed to scour hours of footage taken that night to try and find pictures to prove that Juan was part of the 56,000 crowd. juan catalan wife BosqueReal desde 162 m 2 Precios desde $7.7 MDP. Sometimes they go the extra step of making up documents to bolster their lies. They had met Puebla then. But Long Shot, a short documentary about how Los Angeles man Juan Catalan avoided death row, is a rare exception. Catalan still works in the family business, but Casselman suggested he remains traumatized by the five months he spent in jail wrongly accused. We rewound the tape, and just as Im walking up the aisle in one shot, this guy is sitting right there. In the end, the trace of a call proved the Mexican right. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, LLC. In regards to the murder, four men were later arrested and found guilty. Catalan is 42 years old and was born in 1990s, in Year Juan's case didn't come without further hurdles, but he was able to walk free in the end. Under his mattress, they found a loaded assault rifle and letters from other Vineland Boyz, many of them written from prison. According to Melnik: I told him. Long Shot is a 2017 short documentary film about how Juan Catalan was arrested for a murder he did not commit. As David might say, baseball has been pret-tay, pret-tay, pret-tay good to Catalan. A loyal follower of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he knew that his teams closer in that long-ago 2003 season, Canadian Eric Gagne, hardly missed the diamond, but on the night of May 12, the pitcher was a disaster and life of a man of Hispanic origin would change radically. The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Bachelor Sister Wives 90 Day Fiance Wife Swap The Amazing Race Australia Married at First Sight The Real Housewives of Dallas My 600-lb Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Read Also:Why And How Was Jazmine Trotter Murdered? The problem came on August 12, 2003, when Juan was arrested by the police, accused of having murdered Martha Puebla, a teenager who testified against her older brother in a murder trial. She told a friend that she knew the Vineland Boyz were blaming her for helping police with the Vargas murder investigation. Property News:Music promoter Michael Coppel sells Toorak home for more than $30 million - domain.com.au, Your web browser is no longer supported. On it, Ledesmas photo was circled, and the initials M.P. were written below it. Following the acquittal, they were both reassigned posts within the LAPD but never formally penalised for their conduct. Where and How to Become Billionaire With Just $20 in Your Wallet !! Facebook gives people the power to. Went out the next day and saw the body outline on the floor and circles where the bullet shells were. The case status is Pending - Other Pending. Three months later, Juan was charged with the murder of 16-year-old Martha Puebla. Other LAPD detectives searched the car Ledesma and Catalan had driven to Mexico. . ProStarSolar > Blog Classic > Uncategorized > juan catalan wife. As Pinner and Rodriguez worked Pueblas murder scene, the truth was on the tape of Ledesmas jail-cell call. "He [Melnick] did the job the police were suppose to have done and are paid to do," said Gary Casselman, the attorney representing Catalan in the police misconduct lawsuit. View the profiles of people named Juan Catalan. Taking into account traffic congestion, the judge accepted thered be no way Juan could have been at the crime scene at the time of the murder. Juan Catalans story inspired the 2017 short documentary film, Long Shot. Rodriguez had doctored it, circling Ledesmas photo and forging Pueblas statement and signature. To achieve this, the defender went to Sam Fernndez, of the Dodgers legal team, and with the HBO production company that had recorded an episode of a comedy program that was broadcast that day. He told Catalan that the gun had been found and, then, hoping that the two suspects would say something to incriminate themselves, put them in a holding cell together at the Van Nuys jail. On a cool spring night five years ago, 16-year-old Martha Puebla sat on the curb outside her Sun Valley home, talking to a friend, when a man walked up from behind. Melnik found his client in a poor quality Dodgers tape, but in the recording of the program, just he and his daughter crossed each other in a scene without ever knowing that they were in the middle of a film, that managed to give him his freedom, thus such as the location of his cell phone, in a call to his girlfriend Alma Oseguera, from an antenna located near the Los Angeles stadium. The documentary was released on Netflix on September 29, 2017, and it received numerous awards and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Documentary for a Short Film. Came here to say this! Thus, this man fought the safe death penalty and the true culprits, four gang members, were captured and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Martha Puebla, the night of the first defeat of the 2003 season for pitcher Eric Gagne and the third home run by Mexican Vinicio Castilla. Cataln was arrested on May 13, 2003, a day after the game, accused of the murder of Martha Puebla, a 16-year-old girl who had testified in a trial against Juans older brother. "I really did jump out of my chair," Melnik said. I look at it like I did win the lottery because I got a new opportunity at life with my family. Unlike his brother, Catalan was a law-abiding citizen and doting father. 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 hilarious, sexually-charged satire on obsessive love. The evidence was enough for the case against Juan to be dismissed and after five and a half months in jail he was released and later recieved 250,000 in compensation from the LAPD. The FOX Sports TV feed and the Dodgers in-house video and security feeds did not include the section where Catalan and his daughter, Cousin Miguel, and a friend were seated. Even though the interrogation was going nowhere, the case against Ledesma was growing stronger. And although it later was revealed that the two police who investigated Juan and named him as the shooter had framed himand that amazingly, one of them is still employed as a copJuan says he forgives them: You know, hate is, no one should walk around with hate in them. Case Summary. Only days before her murder, she had testified against young Mario Catalan involving a gang slaying in which Mario was charged as an accessory. When Pinner and Rodriguez stepped into the interrogation room with Ledesma, they had little real information to work with. Juan Catalan grew up loving the Dodgers. In May 2003, Juan Catalan was accused of murdering a 16-year-old girl in Sun Valley, California, a crime he has always claimed he never committed because he was at a Los Angeles Dodgers game with . "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Sh Kasamatsu: What Is His Bio, Age, Best Works, And Net Worth? Juan Catalan sat in jail for five months awaiting trial until his lawyer turned up video footage showing Catalan was at a Dodgers game at the time of the shooting. With his freedom back, Catalan has also not forgotten the show that helped him secure it. Police swarmed the area, roping it off with yellow tape. On May 12, 2003, then 24-year-old Juan watched his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers lose to the Atlanta Braves 11-4, with his six-year-old daughter, Melissa. But Catalan, of course, didnt know that. The day the detectives arrested Juan Catalan, they thought they had the right man. But the new show called Long Shot, tells the tale of how he was able to prove his innocence in court against a feared prosecutor thanks to comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm. A talented young street-food cook pushes herself to the limit after accepting an invitation to train under an infamous and ruthless chef. Jenya Lano: What Are The Interesting Details To Know About The Actress? ", "I went through about 20 minutes of tape, and I was beginning to get disheartened because I didn't see Juan in any of the tapes," remembered Melnick. I looked at tape after tape. Roll that tape back! Of the 58,000 seats filled with fans, filming took place right near where Catalan was sitting. Is Megan Thee Stallion Trans? From that moment on, a series of errors by the accusing party, the desperation of the accused and his family due to an unfair accusation would be combined as a fundamental part of the investigation. "One of the crew members, he let me go in front of the camera," Catalan said. Disclaimer | This case was filed in Harris County District Courts, Harris County District Courts located in Harris, Texas. Pinner gave up trying to get Ledesma to confess and tried a different tack. He also became a big fan of baseball and also Curb your Enthusiasm. Not in my mind. It was such a bad experience, and to have all this good come out, I just feel blessed. When you opt in, not only do you get our curated list of the best horror streaming and stories, you support our work and help us keep the lights on. "Once your freedom gets taken away," Catalan said, "you really recognize how lucky we are to be American citizens. But [keep a] low-pro[file]. Catalan did have a motive for the execution-style killing of 16-year-old Martha Puebla, as she was a witness in his brother's trial for murder. Yet even after producing ticket stubs of the baseball game he attended, law enforcement had chosen their man in Catalan, and he was incarcerated to await his trial for capital murder. 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. 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. Theres like, in there, its just like, you know, thats supposed to rehabilitate a person? Pinner is still a police officer to this day. With this, his life would definitely never remain the same. Catalan was eventually cleared by an unusual method, ABC News reported. Juan Catalan had always denied murdering 16-year-old Martha Puebla but had to prove he had spent the night she died at a baseball game. However, since he was related to one of LAs notorious Vineland Gang members, he became the prime suspect. "I pointed at the screen and said, 'That's him right there! The jail-cell recording, Pinner said in sworn testimony, was badly transcribed twice by an outside company used by the LAPD. She argued that there was plenty of time for Juan to leave the stadium and drive the 20 miles to commit the slaying. The documentary was released on Netflix on September 29, 2017. He quickly enlisted lawyer Todd Melnik to defend his case. Their four-year old daughter was in the back seat. For Juan Catalan, the faults of the criminal justice apparatus briefly showed their terrifying destructive potential when he was arrested for the murder of 16-year-old Martha Puebla. He was initially arrested in 2003 for the murder of 16-year-old Martha Puebla. But incredibly, as 60 Minutes reporter Liam Bartlett revealed, its comedy that saved him. Todd Melnik was Catalans lawyer and after questioning him, he realized that the pass to his freedom or to the gallows would be to verify that his client had been one of the 27, 458 fans who were present at the Dodgers Stadium on the day of the murder. 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 . ", 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Hawaiian Eye Cast: Who And Where Are They Today? There was also a bystander who identified Catalan. In addition to his flies and his genes, Juan had passions and interests that he carried with his proven sobriety. Before his arrest for murder, Catalan said he never watched "Curb Your Enthusiasm." He was released from maximum security custody after nearly 6 months while facing the death penalty until his lawyer @ToddMelnik was able to prove his innocence in court with the most unlikely and incredible alibi ever. Pinner kept trying, pressing Ledesma about Puebla and the information he said she had given up. View the profiles of people named Juan Cataln. Twenty miles away, Marios brother Juan was at Dodger Stadium with his six-year old daughter, watching his beloved Dodgers play the Atlanta Braves. Silverman has been a Deputy District Attorney since 1994 in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. A TV show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, contains raw footage that was instrumental in proving his innocence. It also stated that at that time, Catalan was working in his fathers machine shop in other to support his family. Right name and its still on. Joel Rubin is an assistant editor in Metro, overseeing the criminal justice team. john smith laramie wife juan catalan wife. Was Seargeoh Stallone Suffering From Autism? and a detective with the LAPDs Robbery-Homicide Division. In 2004, Catalan told ABC's Brian Rooney how amazed he was at the events that led to his vindication. Is Wellness Tea More Beneficial Than It is Been Credited? Melnik agreed, and it would be the start of an emotional lifelong friendship between the two. Signing up helps us (not Zuckerberg) stay in direct contact with you and create the best horror website possible. She was a reluctant and unhelpful witness, as she had been with Pinner and Rodriguez the morning of the shooting, telling the prosecutor that she had not seen the shooter. By subscribing, you agree to the terms of our Privacy Statement. In the end, Juan Cataln was released, received 320 thousand dollars in compensation and those who accused him of cheating were dismissed. a challenge in which an attorney has broad discretion in excusing jurors is known as a. Since the day I was arrested, I just felt like I was being framed. Previously we told you about theBritish family with seven children who lost their dad to suicide who are the subject of a heartbreaking new Netflix documentary. The first, his wife and his daughters, with whom he always shared everything. 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. The detectives, who were assigned the case, worked through the night and into the next morning tracking down leads. (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. Nothing worked. Ledesma, who didnt call a lawyer, showed no signs of cracking. California AG's wife . Rodriguez read Ledesma his Miranda rights, and Pinner started grilling him. phone records also showed that Juans cellphone pinged a tower near Dodger Stadium at 10:12 pm, which happens to be 31 minutes before Puebla was murdered. After six months in jail, he was freed and later awarded a $320,000 settlement for police misconduct. I have multiple witnesses who are going to testify that you were the shooter.. She allegedly threatened her girlfriend, telling her that if she cooperated with authorities Puebla would tell the Vineland Boyz where the girls family lived. "That's where my love for the Dodgers grew. Again, he was able to prove that his wife, Amla called him as he was leaving the stadium with his daughter at around 10:13 pm. Juan Catalan spent 6 months in jail for the murder of a teenage girl, until his lawyer found unused footage from HBO's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' that proved Juan had been at a Dodgers game with his daughter 31 minutes before the murder took place, 20 miles away. 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. Peps, as Ledesma was called in the gang, wasnt there. We went through, probably, the first five tapes and there was no Juan on it, said Melnik. My God! Why are people treating me this way? To the gang, Puebla was a snitch and needed to be dealt with. It wasnt until Juans persistent lawyer was reviewing hours of tapes and spotted Juan in the crowd during the Dodgers game based on outtakes from Larry Davids HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm that the DA was forced to drop the murder charges and award him a settlement of $320,000. Puebla, in fact, hadnt dropped a dime. Does Opening A Savings Account Affect Credit Score, Who Is Ella Rae Peck? ago The quirky day-in-the-life series centers on the misadventures of comedian Larry David, the lauded creator of "Seinfeld. Juan Catalan: How Did An LA Dodgers Game Change His Life Drastically? 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. Despite the eyewitness, and despite the alleged motive of taking out revenge against someone who had testified aginst his brother, Melnik believed Juan when he insisted he was innocent. Creepy Catalog is owned by the Thought and Expression Company, a small, independent media company. Alarmed by the gunfire, Pueblas mother rushed outside. 1 The Show Will Never Have A Big Finale Ending Like Seinfeld Did 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. Juli Fisher: Why Did Jeff Fishers Ex-wife Leave Him After 22 Years of Marriage? With the presumption of innocence missing from the start, Catalan needed an alibi - his life quite literally depended on it. You see, Rodriguez told Catalan, the pictures dont lie.. Juan Catalns life changed forever the day he attended a Los Angeles Dodgers game with his little daughter. Pinner, Rodriguez and the district attorneys office declined to comment for this article. "We used all kinds of things --- Hollywood TV shows, modern technology and good, old-fashioned detective work -- to piece together things to determine where he was," Melnik said. "I mean, if that's not a miracle, I don't know what is. By nightfall, the suspects had been hauled back to LAPDs North Hollywood station for booking. And he produced the ticket stubs to prove it. Juan Catalan: Saved From Crooked Cops and Lying Prosecutor by Larry David fran rooks Feb 22, 2023 11:27 AM EST Juan Catalan was accused of murdering a teenage girl even though he was at a Dodger game with his daughter the same night. Bio, Best Films, Dating, Parents. 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