(Our sponsors are back, with a very unique article about how Dodger baseball and a popular television show saved him from being accused of a crime he did not commit.)
As soon as HBO announced the return of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ on Tuesday for the ninth season, the internet rejoiced, including online MLB sports betting odds. Almost everyone from different states has enjoyed this exceptional comedy, which also apparently played a key role in saving a man’s life. As did Dodger baseball.
The police immediately arrested Juan Catalan in 2003, he constantly claimed that he did not commit the crime. He explained that his six-year-old daughter had accompanied him to a Dodgers game during the time of the murder. Even though Catalan produced his ticket stub to the police, no one believed his sentiments. According to reports by Catalan’s lawyer, it seemed the authorities reached a dead end after scanning the TV broadcast footage of the game to trace his client.
However, Catalan’s glorious fortune came when he remembered that the Curb crew and Larry David were filming at the stadium on that very day. They crew were shooting an episode known as The Car Pool Lane, which you can access on YouTube. Catalan recollected his thoughts about the presence of the filmmakers because Super Dave Osborne, a comedic character (Marty Funkhouser), was also in the ballpark. He narrated his finding to his attorney.
According to Los Angeles Times, a review of the footage by HBO and Melnik led to the spotting of Catalan and his daughter, along with two of their friends. Since the recording was time coded, it helped to confirm the absence of Catalan in San Fernando Valley, the murder scene located twenty miles away. Catalan’s attorney, Gary S. Casselman, expressed his relief on behalf of his client, that he will not go to jail for a capital crime he did not commit.
The judge also used cell phone records when Catalan called his girlfriend from Dodger Stadium, to release him. However, the comedy show footage played a key role in the case of mistaken identity. His attorney also expressed that Catalan has been a fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm since then.
A CNN story about the case highlighted a dreadful representation for Catalan. The insubstantial evidence illustrated witnesses describing a different gunman who did not resemble Catalan at all. Furthermore, even though Catalan had a premeditated motive to seek revenge against the victims who testified against his brother regarding a case of gang violence, all these did not help. This is because he had given evidence against the co-defendant of his brother. Catalan even asked the authorities to take him through a lie detector in vain.
In his wildest dreams, Larry David gave access to his attorney to reexamine the footage, along with the frames that did not pull through into the episode’s final cut. Just like that, Catalan secured his freedom, although he went through the ordeal in a nightmare of his life.
Los Angeles compensated Catalan $320,000 for the trouble he went through, that is, spending more than five months in jail on murder charges that could have led to spending more time in death row. If Curb Your Enthusiasm and Dodger Baseball did not save him, Catalan would be dead by now.
As you might well expect, I’m not the least bit surprised the police got this wrong and only a stroke of good luck saved this guy. There are literally thousands of innocent men and women locked up in this country and until it happens to you, you have no idea what little power you have against a corrupt justice system. That beat just goes on and on and on.
Speaking from experience, I might say a few hundred
A few hundred thousand? Well, considering we incarcerate 1% of our population and police exaggerate every day, yeah, a few hundred thousand.
That’s a ´pretty, pretty, pretty good story.