Life for killer of 11 in L.A. commuter rail disaster

[July 16, 2008]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A man who murdered 11 people by causing a commuter rail disaster was spared the death penalty Tuesday by jurors who wept while listening to victims' relatives but decided he should get life in prison without parole.

Juan Alvarez parked his gasoline-doused sport utility vehicle on railroad tracks in January 2005, causing a Los Angeles-bound Metrolink train to derail and crash into another train going the other way. Aside from the dead, about 180 people were injured in the wreck in Glendale, northeast of Los Angeles.

The jury, which convicted Alvarez last month, had heard the prosecution describe him as a remorseless, smirking defendant who didn't think of the case as a tragedy. The defense painted the 29-year-old as a mentally disturbed man who was almost aborted by his mother, was shaped by a childhood of horrific abuse and became a methamphetamine addict.

The jury foreman said at a news conference after the verdict that he did not believe Alvarez planned to kill or harm anyone. But he also rejected Alvarez's explanation that he was trying to commit suicide.

"I truly believe Mr. Alvarez did not want to hurt or kill anyone when he drove his Jeep onto the tracks," said the 27-year-old foreman, who did not wish to be identified but did not say why. "He was reckless."

Sentencing was set for Aug. 20.

Prosecutors said Alvarez was trying to get his estranged wife's attention the day of the crash. Prosecutors contended he actually had been thinking of killing his wife before derailing the train.

The defense maintained Alvarez changed his mind at the last minute about committing suicide and couldn't get the SUV off the tracks before it was struck.

During the penalty phase, jurors cried openly during testimony by survivors of the dead.

Superior Court Judge William Pounders admitted outside the jury's presence that he also had been affected emotionally by the survivors' testimony and told lawyers that to balance things out he would allow jurors to hear a tape of telephone message left by Alvarez for a cousin a few minutes after the catastrophe.

"I didn't mean to do this. ... A lot of innocent people died. I don't deserve to live. ... I apologize for everything. Please pray for me, please," Alvarez sobbed in the phone message, which the judge acknowledged sounded "patently made up."

Prosecutors John Monaghan and Cathryn Brougham said they were satisfied with the verdicts but believed Alvarez did intend to kill.

Henry Romero, nephew of crash victim Leonard Romero, said he would have preferred that Alvarez get the death penalty, but he praised the jury's work.

"He'll never get out to hurt anyone else," Romero said.

"I don't wish him well."

[Associated Press; By LINDA DEUTSCH]

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