One night, a young woman named Martha sat on the curb outside her home, talking with a friend, when a man approached from behind. He asked, “Are you Martha?” When she confirmed, he pulled a gun from his hoodie pocket and shot her before fleeing into the night.
Police quickly zeroed in on a suspect—Juan, whose brother had been involved in a separate murder case where Martha had testified. Detectives theorized that Juan killed her in retaliation. A SWAT team stormed his home, arrested him, and charged him with murder.
But Juan had an airtight alibi: he had been at a Los Angeles Dodgers game that night. He showed investigators his ticket stubs, but police dismissed them, arguing that simply owning tickets didn’t prove attendance. They pressed further, falsely claiming that eyewitnesses had identified him through his mugshot, a common interrogation tactic to elicit a confession. Juan refused to buckle, insisting on his innocence.
With no physical evidence linking him to the crime, Juan’s lawyer, Todd, faced an uphill battle. The prosecution was notoriously aggressive, with a perfect conviction record and a history of pursuing the death penalty. If Todd couldn’t prove Juan’s alibi, his client could face life in prison or worse.
Todd scoured televised footage of the Dodgers game, hoping to spot Juan in the crowd, but had no luck. Then, Juan recalled a crucial detail: comedian Bob Einstein, known for his roles on Curb Your Enthusiasm and as Super Dave Osborne, had been seated in his section. Even better, HBO camera crews had been filming Einstein for an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm that night.
Todd reached out to HBO, and Larry David’s team granted access to unreleased B-roll footage. As Todd and Larry reviewed the tapes, they found gold: clear shots of Juan in the stands, enjoying the game. Armed with this irrefutable evidence, Todd presented it to the district attorney. Combined with corroborating cellphone records, the case collapsed.
After five months in jail, Juan was exonerated. The real killers were later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Juan sued the city for wrongful arrest and imprisonment, winning a $320,000 settlement.
This case underscores the fragility of justice, and how a chance encounter with a celebrity, preserved on camera, saved an innocent man’s life.
