Article in the Daily News regrading Glendale train disaster case.

Courtesy of the Los Angeles Daily News:

Jury asked to decide if Metrolink defendant is liar bent on mass killing or suicidal addict

By Troy Anderson, Staff Writer

Was Juan Manuel Alvarez a pathological liar intent on mass murder? Or was he just "damaged goods" with a drug addiction and suicidal tendencies?

During closing arguments in his murder trial Thursday, the two sides tried to sway a jury tasked with choosing how responsible Alvarez was for the 2005 Metrolink train crash near Glendale that killed 11 people and injured 180.

"He will say whatever sounds good at the moment," John Monaghan, the case's lead prosecutor, told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury. "That's what a pathological liar does. He was threatening to kill his wife, his brother-in-law and others. He was threatening to kill people, stab people and shoot people."

Defense attorney Thomas Kielty painted a far different picture, saying his client was mentally ill, addicted to methamphetamines and sought to kill himself by driving his SUV onto the tracks while distraught over his estrangement from his wife and children.

"I think we can all agree that Mr. Alvarez is damaged goods," Kielty said. "You have a kid who was sodomized at age 4, beaten over and over again and tried to commit suicide at age 7."
The closing arguments, which will continue Monday, came after several weeks of testimony. The jury could get the case as early as Monday afternoon.

Alvarez, 29, of Compton, a traditional Aztec dancer whom prosecutors claimed might have been carrying out a ritual of Aztec human sacrifice, is charged with 11 counts of murder and one count of arson and train wrecking, along with special-circumstance allegations of multiple murder and train wrecking. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Testimony during trial

During the trial, his attorneys have attempted to demonstrate that he wanted to commit suicide, and the deaths and injuries of train passengers were an unintended consequence.

Alvarez testified that he poured gasoline over himself, took out a lighter, but then decided not to light himself on fire. He then drove onto the tracks in hopes of getting hit by the train. Once on the tracks, he decided not to commit suicide, but couldn't get his SUV off the tracks and tried to wave at the train to stop it.

In his closing argument, Monaghan said testimony given during the trial shows that Alvarez didn't pour the gasoline on himself, but on his SUV. People who came in close contact with Alvarez after the crash did not smell gasoline on his clothing, the prosecutor added.

Monaghan suggested that Alvarez, a welder, knew a 315-ton train hitting the SUV would create sparks, lighting the gasoline on fire, derailing the train and igniting a fiery crash.
"He knew exactly what he was doing when he went out there on those tracks," Monaghan said.
He also said experts testified that the parking brake on his SUV had been applied.
"That says a lot about his state of mind," he said. "He didn't want that Jeep going anywhere. I think you'll find that's a key in this case. He said he doused himself in gasoline to get out of murder and arson charges. `Oh, I was going to kill myself."'

Monaghan also noted that testimony was given that Alvarez had last used drugs a few days before the crash and wouldn't have been coming down at the time.

And while he was in jail, Monaghan said, Alvarez would act crazy when mental-health workers were nearby, banging his head and screaming.

But when they were gone, he would clean his cell and return to normal.
"This is all a big act," Monaghan said. "Mr. Alvarez knows how to turn it on and off."
Alvarez had a wife and two children at one point and was traveling and giving lectures at colleges and universities about Aztec dancing. But he used drugs, and his wife took out a restraining order against him, putting bars on their windows.

But in his closing argument, Kielty said Alvarez had no intention of killing anyone and could not have possibly foreseen that parking his SUV on the tracks would derail the train and kill and injure so many people.

Intent to kill self?

In the past several decades, Kielty said, testimony has been given at various trials that trains have crashed into vehicles 200,000 times in the nation and the only people who died were the 11 victims of the Glendale train derailment.

"To have arson, you have to have intent," Kielty said. "His only intent was to kill himself. His expectation was he would be smashed by the train, and he didn't think anyone else would be injured."

And if Alvarez truly intended to kill and injure people on the train, Kielty asked why a witness testified that he waited until the last minute to get out of the SUV before the train hit it.

"That's more consistent with trying to get the car off the tracks," Kielty said.
He also questioned why Alvarez didn't use his lighter to light the SUV on fire, rather than relying on sparks to ignite a fire.

"It doesn't make any sense he would use the car," Kielty said. "He had a lighter in the car."