L.A. Metrolink Killer Gets Life in Jail

Saying he had shown “no remorse” for killing 11 people who perished in a fiery Metrolink crash 3-1/2 years ago, a Los Angeles judge has imposed 11 terms of life without parole on Juan Manuel Alvarez.

“I don’t believe for a moment that you meant to kill yourself,” Superior Court Judge William Pounders told the 29-year-old defendant. “You’ve shown no remorse.”

Besides the 11 consecutive life-without-parole terms, the judge ordered Alvarez to pay $92,019 to the victim’s restitution fund. He additionally imposed a two-year prison term for an arson conviction.

A jury on June 26 convicted Alvarez of 11 counts of first-degree murder and found true the special circumstance of multiple murders. He also was convicted of one count of arson. The same jury on July 15 rejected the prosecution request for the death penalty and instead recommended the defendant be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Six family members of victims spoke before Judge Pounders imposed sentence. The judge told the defendant, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and sporting a newly shaved head, that he did not believe Alvarez cares about the people whose lives were destroyed in different ways by the injuries they suffered in the pre-dawn crash on Jan. 26, 2005.

Besides the 11 deaths, another nearly 200 people were injured in the crash near Chevy Chase Drive. The train was filled with early morning commuters bound for downtown Los Angeles. It was the worst Metrolink disaster since the trains started running in 1992.

Alvarez drove a Jeep Cherokee onto the track and left it there after dousing the SUV with gasoline. He ran away, but was tracked down on the basis of various identification cards found at the scene. Arrested at a friend’s home in nearby AtwaterVillage, Alvarez has remained in custody without bail.

Killed in the crash were James Tutino, 47, a Sheriff’s deputy from Simi Valley; Scott McKeoun, 42, of Moorpark; Manuel Alcala, 51, of West Hills; Thomas Ormiston, 58, the train’s conductor from Northridge; Leonard Romero, 53, of Rancho Cucamonga; Henry Kilinski, 39, of Orange; Alfonso Caballero, 62, of Winnetka; Julie Bennett, 44, of Simi Valley; Don Wiley, 58, of Simi Valley; Elizabeth Hill, 65; and William Parent, 53, of Simi Valley. Many of the dead worked for various governmental agencies in and around Los Angeles.