Occupation Laborer Children 2 Name Juan Alvarez | Spouse(s) Sra. Alvarez Motive Suicide attempt | |
Born February 26, 1979 (age 45) ( 1979-02-26 ) Criminal penalty 11 life sentences (consecutive) Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Conviction(s) Train wreck, capital murder | ||
Juan Manuel Alvarez (born February 26, 1979), a laborer from Compton, California, is a Californian convicted of causing the 2005 Glendale train crash, a collision between a passenger train, another passenger train, a freight train, and a car in Glendale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. As of August 20, 2008, he is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at Kern Valley State Prison.
Contents
The accident
On January 26, 2005, Alvarez parked his gasoline-soaked sport-utility vehicle on the tracks and waited for a southbound Metrolink commuter train. At the approach of the train, allegedly unable to move his vehicle from the tracks, he exited, apparently abandoning a suicide attempt, and observed the train colliding with his SUV (causing the train to derail) from a safe distance. The derailed train then hit a Union Pacific Railroad freight train parked on a siding, as well as a northbound Metrolink train on the third track. The collision left 11 people dead and nearly 200 injured.
Alvarez was allegedly suicidal long before the incident occurred. According to some reports, he had attempted suicide previously. In addition, he was a known methamphetamine addict, prone to delusional behavior. At the time of the train crash, Alvarez, the father of two young children, was experiencing marital difficulties.
Alvarez fled the scene after the crash, but was later found at a friend’s home in Atwater Village, Los Angeles.
Aftermath
Police initially believed that Alvarez decided to kill himself that day, but that he changed his mind immediately before the train hit his vehicle, jumping out of the car and observing as the collision took place. He was charged with, and subsequently convicted of, 11 counts of murder with "special circumstances". Police say following investigations indicate Alvarez may have intended to cause the crash without committing suicide. Authorities filed additional charges against him for murder with intent.
Legal proceedings
Prosecutors sought the death penalty for his crimes under a seldom-used law making train wrecking, resulting in a person's death, a capital offense. This 1873 law was created to prosecute Old West train robbers who were known to blow up the tracks to rob a train.
During the trial, the Defense maintained their claim that the crash was the result of Alvarez's aborted suicide attempt and he never intended to hurt anyone, but Prosecutors claimed he deliberately caused the crash in an attempt to get attention from his estranged wife, citing that he doused his SUV with gasoline beforehand. A relative of one of the victims questioned why Alvarez did not simply lie on the tracks if it was really a suicide attempt.
On June 26, 2008, Alvarez was found guilty of 11 counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and one count of arson related to the incident. He was acquitted of the train-wrecking charge.
On July 7, 2008, the hearing for sentencing for Alvarez started. On July 15, the jury chose a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On August 20, Alvarez was sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.