WHAT IF? I mean, what if that didn't happen? What if they changed their mind?? WHAT IF? To view life from the perspective of WHAT IF? is a very dangerous thing. You start to wonder the endless possibilities of what could have happened. You start to imagine where you'd end up if some tiny detail changed the odds of your life. Its crazy. I saw a post on Facebook sometime ago about some guy that was wrongfully convicted for murder. I was curious, and then I learned it was a true story and that Netflix made a documentary of it. Trust me to dive straight into it.
In may of 2003, a sixteen year old lady was shot dead in front of her home in Los-Angeles. She had earlier testified in court to some crime, and it seemed connected. A few months later a man, by name Juan Catalan was arrested for the murder. The problem here was that, not only was the man innocent, he was facing death penalty based on a composite drawing described by an eyewitness. Juan could not have committed the crime because during the time of the murder, he was with his ten year old daughter at a Dodgers baseball game. The homicide detectives would not believe his innocence or the statement of his mother, wife or little daughter. What potentially saved his life was footages and video recordings showing his live at the stadium with his kid at the time of the crime. His attorney Todd Melkin is a hero who saved this innocent mans life. He painstakingly went through a three hours baseball game footage which took him the whole day to prove that his client was at the game and not at the crime scene. But alas, the video quality was too poor, and here comes the craziest part of this incredible story. During that game, there was an HBO show running, stared by Larry David. The producers decided to film a scene at a live game as opposed to one where there were extras. Can you actually believe that. What were the odds?? As the filming was going on, Juan and his daughter had earlier stepped out to get something. As they were returning, they were stopped by the assistant to wait a moment so the scene could be complete. But the assistant just went, 'just go on to your seat'. That was how he was captured on the tape of a big television show. I mean, imagine the assistant hadn't allowed him. Then of course he made a call some moments later which also helped prove him innocent of the crime.
It is crazy. You start to wonder, what if they didn't shoot that day? What if it wasn't in the aisle he was? what if he didn't got to the game? what if he didn't call? what if that shitty assistant didn't allow him through? There is an endless stream of 'what ifs' and its crazy to think that an innocent man would have lost his life for what he knew nothing off. Practically due to the incompetence of some police officers and poor justice system. CRAZY.
I am not even going to do 'stream or skip' for this, because it is an outright stream from me. Even if you don't watch documentaries, this is one you sure would enjoy. It has that 'feel-good' factor and makes you wonder about a lot of things. It doesn't have a lot of cinematography or whatever. Its just a captivating story of a man, at the brink of loosing his life for what he knew nothing of. An incredible documentary.
