Juan was arrested and charged with a murder he clearly did not commit. Martha had earlier testified in a another gang-related murder . Covarrubias persuaded other Vineland members to help. Based on bad information from sources, the detectives pinned the slaying on Juan Catalan -- Mario Catalans brother. 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. In 2007, he was awarded $320,000 as a settlement in a civil lawsuit against the LAPD.Feb 24, 2021, In 2007, Catalan received a $320,000 settlement from a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and its police force, and was the subject of a short Netflix documentary, "Long Shot," that examines his ordeal. The day the detectives arrested Juan Catalan, they thought they had the right man. He also remembered that he had been "caught on tape. They were all fake. One of them got out of the car, walked up to the girl and killed her. A hidden microphone recorded what they said. Despite the video evidence, the authorities claimed the time on the video was different from the time of the murder. THE true story of a man who was falsely accused of a brutal gangland murder is being told in a new Netflix documentary. Joel Rubin is an assistant editor in Metro, overseeing the criminal justice team. He stayed in the car while the girl went to Pueblas ground-floor window and asked if she wanted to come hang out. ", "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. Nothing worked. That is why I keep my Google Location History active - not fool proof, but I am on the phone nearly all the time and can "triangulate" my calls and the location of my phone to establish almost always where I was at any given moment. After spending not less than six months in jail, Catalan insisted on his innocence. Im Martha, she responded. The Long Shot is available to view now on Netflix. 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Mario Catalan, the suspect's brother, was a co-defendant in that case. Look at anything you want. And we hooked him up with everything from the stadium, all the footage we shot that night.Im there for maybe five minutes, and the lawyer screams out, There he is!We couldnt believe it. Jenya Lano: What Are The Interesting Details To Know About The Actress? She argued that there was plenty of time for Juan to leave the stadium and drive the 20 miles to commit the slaying. What happened To The Actress. That's why it is told in the Netflix documentary "Long Shot," which Catalan and Melnik were in town to promote. 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. Still, authorities continued to blame him as the crime was committed minutes after the LA game ended. You see, Rodriguez told Catalan, the pictures dont lie.. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, A new Netflix documentary is to tell the story of Juan Catalan, a man falsely accused of killing a 16-year-old girl, On the night of the murder, Juan had gone to watch baseball at Dodgers' Stadium in Los Angeles, His legal team were able to prove he wasn't at the scene of the murder thanks to footage shot for the show Curb Your Enthusiasm, Juan and his defence lawyer Todd Melnik in 2004, holding the proof that Juan wasn't involved in the murder, Juan's story has now been made into a Netflix documentary. NEW YORK -- Here he was among the multitudes that had assembled in Yankee Stadium on this wet October night. Carol Highsmith, Library of Congress, Public Domain Juan Catalan Despite his efforts to his to the police that he and his daughter were at the baseball game on the night Puebla was murdered, he was still arrested. He told the New York Post: "That show is hilarious. With the arrival of federal authorities, Pinner and Rodriguez were phased out as the lead investigators. This documentary came out in 2017, 14 years after what happened. Catalan was ultimately exonerated by outtakes from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," an HBO comedy show that captured him at the Dodgers game, which was featured in Season 4's episode "The Car Pool Lane.". Catalan told Melnik he was at Dodger Stadium watching a baseball game with his seven-year-old daughter Melissa the night of the murder. Her testimony, however, either did nothing to placate Ledesma or he was unable to stop the killing he had ordered. 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. Juan Catalan was later seen in the footage with his daughter returning to their row after getting snacks at the concession stand. 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. 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. Like why? Detectives are not allowed to strike deals with suspects in exchange for a confession, and they are not allowed to threaten them with bodily harm. The Judge overseeing this case is ELAINE H PALMER. Catalan was eventually cleared by an unusual method, ABC News reported. Michael Kremko: Bio, Best Works, Where Is He Now? They recovered a handgun that would eventually be matched to Vargas death and another killing that had happened the same week. Catalan and Melnik are "best friends" now. Juan's wife's name was "Alma," but It didn't seem to matter to police that he had never owned a white Ford F150 and had never been to Mexico. But when a police supervisor learned the young girls name, he called Pinner. Read Also:Why And How Was Jazmine Trotter Murdered? This is true. Ledesma, who didnt call a lawyer, showed no signs of cracking. He'd felt . Catalan was arrested for Puebla's death in August 2003, and he maintained his innocence, telling prosecutors that he had taken his 6-year-old daughter to the Dodgers game on the night of the murder. 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. 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. This documentary came out in 2017, 14 years after what happened. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, Press J to jump to the feed. 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 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. Is Wellness Tea More Beneficial Than It is Been Credited? . 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. But being a relative of one of LAs notorious Vineland Gang members was enough to make him a suspect. 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. Melnik agreed, and it would be the start of an emotional lifelong friendship between the two. The teenage girl, whom The Times is not identifying for her safety at the request of a prosecutor, had come with another friend, Christian Vargas. 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. As the girls talked, gunshots suddenly filled the night air. Some went to a firing range to test a gun they wanted to use, discarded it as unacceptable and found another. Catalan still works in the family business, but Casselman suggested he remains traumatized by the five months he spent in jail wrongly accused. 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. Following the acquittal, they were both reassigned posts within the LAPD but never formally penalised for their conduct. Ana Wolfermann: What Are The Interesting Facts About The Actress? The first, his wife and his daughters, with whom he always shared everything. Pinner gave up trying to get Ledesma to confess and tried a different tack. It was a game that would end up saving his life. Why is Win Harrison Wilson (Son of Russell Wilson) in Spotlight? The 24-year-old machinist was sent to jail to await trial for capital murder. View the profiles of people named Juan Cataln. I dont even know a Martha, Ledesma lied. Yet despite the settlement, a Gofundme page organized by Melnik last March in support of Catalan says that Juan "still struggles today" financially, working in his father's machine shop to support his three children. Why is Hasan Piker known as Hypocritical Leftist? 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. Then, on that May night, Covarrubias and other gang members drove to Pueblas block. A phone number was listed in the log. "I mean, if that's not a miracle, I don't know what is. german bakery long island. ", Melnick persuaded the producers to let him look at the episode "Carpool Lane" and its outtakes. In the end, Juan Cataln was released, received 320 thousand dollars in compensation and those who accused him of cheating were dismissed. But that wasn't enough. Beitrags-Autor: Beitrag verffentlicht: Juni 4, 2022 Beitrags-Kategorie: how to respond to thank you email professionally Beitrags-Kommentare: aita for walking out of the delivery room aita for walking out of the delivery room What Juan Catalan endured at the hands of the Los Angeles police is no laughing matter, but it's comedy that saved him. According to Curb creator and star Larry David: The episode was that I picked up a hooker in the car pool lane and took her to Dodger Stadium.We shot in two sections in Dodger Stadium. Pinner told Ledesma he knew the gang member had been on his way to Martha Pueblas house to visit her the night Vargas was killed outside her house. . Sure enough, there was a shot of Catalan and his daughter returning to their row after getting some snacks at the concession stand. Police swarmed the area, roping it off with yellow tape. Following the advice of Judge Dunn, the Judge that set him free, he earned an associate degree in general education and later applied to California State University, Northridge to earn a bachelors in business administration degree. And as always, he's a baseball fan. 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. According to Innocence Project, approximately 20,000 people roughly 1% of the prison population arefalsely convicted of crimes.