LOS ANGELES — A man jailed for months in a murder case claims in a lawsuit that police failed to properly investigate his alibi, which was bolstered when he was found in video footage at a Dodgers baseball game shortly before the killing.
Juan Catalan, 26, was released in January, after a defense attorney found that video shot for the HBO show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and cell-phone records placed his client near Dodger Stadium shortly before a 16-year-old girl was shot about 20 miles north of the ballpark.
Police alleged Catalan killed Martha Puebla on May 12, 2003, but a judge ruled there was no evidence to try him.
Catalan filed a federal lawsuit July 29 against the city of Los Angeles, the Police Department, four detectives and police officials.
"What they did to me was very wrong," Catalan said at news conference Wednesday. "I was arrested at gunpoint in front of my 4-year-old daughter when she was crying."
The lawsuit claims false arrest, false imprisonment, negligence and defamation. It seeks unspecified damages.
Matt Szabo, a spokesman for the city attorney, said the office had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.
Catalan was arrested Aug. 12 in the murder of Puebla, who was shot outside her San Fernando Valley home.
Police alleged he shot her because she testified against his brother in a homicide case. Catalan lives nearby, and police said a witness reported seeing him at the scene.
Catalan maintained he was with his daughter at Dodger Stadium at the time and could confirm it with ticket stubs and testimony from his family.
Defense attorney Todd Melnik looked through videotape shot for "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and found his client in a scene that hadn't made the final cut. Time codes showed it had been taped an hour before the shooting.
Melnik also obtained cell phone records that placed his client's phone near the stadium about 20 minutes before the murder. The attorney contended it would have been impossible for Catalan to get out of the stadium parking lot, change vehicles and clothing and carry out the killing during that span.
The suit claims the city failed to properly train or discipline the detectives, and that Catalan's rights were violated when detectives questioned him after he asked for a lawyer.
It also contends Puebla had testified not against Catalan's brother but against a co-defendant of his brother.