Long Shot

About the movie

The documentary begins with a series of shots of an empty Dodger Stadium but soon cuts to Juan Catalan being arraigned for murder. He is wearing inmate clothes from L. A. County jail. Juan's narration follows telling his story: On May 13, 2003 Juan was arrested when he showed up for work at a machine shop. His arrest was for the murder of 16-year-old Martha Puebla. The victim had earlier testified in a case against Juan's brother. When Martha was murdered, an eyewitness to the murder identified Juan. He was picked out of a picture array, arrested and charged with murder. On the advice of his cousin, defense attorney Todd Melnik was hired. Melnik asked Juan if he remembered what he was doing the day of the murder. The answer was that Juan and his daughter were attending the Dodger/Atlanta Braves baseball game. As luck would have it, the game was being taped for use in a segment of the HBO entertainment show "Curb Your Enthusiasm". The episode was 'Carpool Lane' and some of the action happened in the same section where Juan was sitting. When the outtakes were viewed, Juan was shown at the game. As each tape was recorded the date and time were also recorded. His alibi was shown to be true and Defense Attorney Melnick won. Juan was released. But he had spent 5 months in jail for a crime he didn't commit. The credits continued the story by stating that Juan brought a lawsuit against the city of and police department of Los Angeles for police misconduct. He received $320,000. The documentary ends as it began - an empty Dodger stadium.