Larry David, especially the fictionalized version in Curb Your Enthusiasm, can be called many things — a curmudgeon, a misanthrope, etc. — but to Juan Catalan, he's a lifesaver. In 2024, Curb Your Enthusiasm ended after 12 hilarious seasons of David fighting a one-battle against life's daily annoyances and its nonsensical social conventions. While there were many times Larry David was in the right on Curb Your Enthusiasm, he's one of TV's most selfish characters. This is the man who, upon learning his girlfriend had cancer, raced home to break up with her before she got the diagnosis, after all.
In Curb Your Enthusiasm season 4, episode 6, "The Car Pool Lane", Larry finds himself in one of his typical predicaments: he won't be able to get to an LA Dodgers baseball game because he's caught in traffic. So, in typical Larry David fashion, he hires Monina (Kym Whitley), a sex worker, but not for her standard services; with her in the car, he's free to use the car pool lane and he makes it to the game on time. But more than just being a great Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, it actually saved Juan Catalan from a murder conviction.
Juan Catalan's Murder Charge Explained
Catalan Was Wrongfully Arrested For The Murder Of Martha Puebla
On May 12, 2003, the Los Angeles Dodgers played the Atlanta Braves, Curb Your Enthusiasm filmed "The Car Pool Lane" episode, and a young woman named Martha Puebla was tragically murdered in Sun Valley, California (via MNE Republic). In the week before her death, Puebla had testified against Juan's brother, Mario Catalan, in a murder case involving gang violence. Thus, Juan Catalan seemingly had a motive for killing Puebla, and he was arrested for her murder several weeks later.
However, Catalan was at the Dodgers game when the crime took place. He attended the game with his six-year-old daughter, his cousin, and his friend Ruben. They watched the Dodgers lose against the Braves 11-4, and left the game. Catalan stopped to buy baseball cards for his daughter, called his girlfriend, drove his cousin home, and went home himself. This is what he told the police upon his arrest, and maintained his innocence throughout the whole ordeal. Catalan even presented the Dodgers tickets as evidence of his alibi.
However, the tickets themselves aren't necessarily proof, as Catalan could have simply purchased them but not gone to the game. What's more is that, according to his Catalan's lawyer Todd Melnik, they were up against prosecutor Beth Silverman, who had a 100% conviction rate, and was determined Catalan not compromise that. Catalan's harrowing story was the subject of a 2017 Netflix short documentary, Long Shot, in which Melnik said,
We were in for an enormous fight. The prosecutor they had assigned to the case had never lost. She liked to pick off people with the death penalty.
How Curb Your Enthusiasm Proved Catalan's Innocence
Without a solid alibi, Juan Catalan was seriously facing the death penalty. However, he remembered one crucial detail from the game that would be the key to proving his innocence. Catalan told Melnik that someone in his section at the stadium mentioned that "Super Dave Osborne" (aka the late Bob Einstein, who played Larry Funkhouser on Curb Your Enthusiasm) was at the game. Melnik immediately contacted the Dodgers' media relations department for more information about who was filming on May 12, 2003.
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The department informed Melnik that the production company was HBO. From there, Melnik had a meeting with Larry David and Curb Your Enthusiasm's producers for footage from that fateful day. Sure enough, Catalan was on camera with his daughter at the snack stand. Melnik said (via MLB),
I really did jump out of my chair. I pointed at the screen and said, 'That's him right there! Roll that tape back!'
Between this Curb Your Enthusiasm footage and Catalan's cell phone pinging at a tower near Dodger Stadium at 10:12 PM — 31 minutes before Puebla's murder, which was committed approximately 20 miles away — was enough to get Catalan's charges dropped.
Where Juan Catalan Is Now
Catalan Was Awarded A $320,000 Settlement — And Became A Huge Curb Your Enthusiasm Fan
With Juan Catalan indisputably innocent, he was released from jail after being imprisoned for six months and awarded a $320,000 settlement from a lawsuit against the police force and the city of Los Angeles. According to the Long Shot documentary, "Detective Martin Pinner was removed from working homicide cases and his partner, Detective Juan Rodriguez, was transferred to an auto fraud detail." Meanwhile, justice was served for Martha Puebla, as the FBI convicted the four men responsible for her murder, which was motivated by her witnessing their "gang wrongdoings". They all took deals for life in prison without parole.
Larry David, who was interviewed for the Long Shot documentary, shrugged off the impact he had on Juan Catalan, boiling it down to a story he tells at parties or on dates.
As a free man, Catalan has continued to enjoy a quiet life with his family. His entire ordeal unsurprisingly turned him into a Curb Your Enthusiasm fan, and he still holds his lifelong passion for baseball. He and his lawyer Todd Melnik also became incredibly close friends. In fact, Juan Catalan and Todd Melnik have become folk heroes at Dodgers Stadium, with people constantly approaching them for autographs and photos. As Melnik says (via Los Angeles Magazine), "We go to Dodger games and people go frickin’ nuts."
Curb Your Enthusiasm is a Comedy television show created by Larry David, the same creative mind behind the wildly popular sitcom, Seinfeld. Starring Larry David himself, along with Cheryl Hines, and Jeff Garlin, the show acts as a semi-fictionalized look at Larry's every day life and the people he would come in contact with.
Release Date October 15, 2000
Seasons 12
English (US) ·