09.29.17

How a Taping of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Saved an Innocent Man from Death Row

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2024-12-25 02:00:03

09.29.17 By Innocence Staff

A new documentary film recounts how a Los Angeles man narrowly avoided a death sentence for a murder he did not commit when footage from a taping of the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm corroborated his alibi.

In May of 2003, 16-year-old Martha Puebla was shot to death on the doorstep of her home in Sun Valley, California. The sole eyewitness fled immediately, fearing for his life, but left his cellphone behind at the scene. When the cellphone led police back to the witness, he provided a description that police said matched to Juan Catalan.

Just days prior, Puebla testified in court about two murders allegedly committed by her ex-boyfriend Jose Ledesma and Catalan’s brother Mario. Police theorized that Catalan killed Puebla in retaliation for her testimony, even though she never identified the perpetrators in court.

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