Alvarez case in jury’s hands

LOS ANGELES — Closing arguments ended Tuesday as the prosecution and defense handed the case over to jurors, who will now decide the fate of Juan Manuel Alvarez.

Alvarez is charged with 11 counts of murder and one count each of felony murder arson and train-wrecking for causing the Jan. 26, 2005, Metrolink train derailment that killed 11 people and left more than 180 injured when he parked his Jeep Cherokee on the tracks in front of an oncoming train.

Defense attorney Thomas Kielty focused on two main themes during his nearly two-hour closing argument Monday: that a rock found near the tracks and marked with black tire treads — which the prosecution said was a tool Alvarez used to get on the tracks — showed Alvarez tried to reverse off the tracks; and that the fire that ignited after the derailment did not cause the deaths of 11 passengers and crew members.

“This is a crucial piece of evidence that tells you in a way no witness who takes the stand can tell you what Mr. Alvarez’s intent was,” Kielty said of the rock. “It clearly shows his first intent was to commit suicide, and his second attempt was to get off the tracks.”

The rock’s centrality to the defense was highlighted by at least two days of testimony in May. Forensic scientist Bryan Burnett on May 22 said Alvarez’s tire treads “made some markings on the rock,” and former Glendale police Officer Matthew Gunnell told jurors on May 7 there was evidence of tire tread on the rock.

As to the issue of fire, which engulfed Metrolink train No. 100 shortly after it hit Alvarez’s Jeep and subsequently crashed into a parked Union Pacific rail car and collided with an oncoming Metrolink train, Kielity accused the prosecution of purposefully using the inferno to distract jurors from what he considers to be the trial’s main points.

“Everything related to the fire is just misdirection,” he said. “The fire means nothing. This is a murder case. Every single person that died in this case died from blunt force trauma. No one died from fire.

“The whole idea that Mr. Alvarez used his Jeep as a match is solely the product of the imagination of the prosecution. Clearly, there was no intent to derail the train.”