Juan Manuel Alvarez

LOS ANGELES — A state court agreed at the end of August to review an appeal from Metrolink attorneys, who argue that federal regulations guiding a controversial train operation preclude the practice from being used against the transit organization in a class-action lawsuit stemming from a fatal train derailment in 2005. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias ruled in June that a jury would have the power to decide whether Metrolink’s “push-pull” operation — which uses a locomotive to push rail cars in one direction and then pull them for the reverse trip — make it liable for a Jan. 26, 2005, wreck near Chevy Chase Drive that left 11 passengers dead and nearly 200 injured.

GLENDALE — A judge on Thursday refused to dismiss charges against 29-year-old Juan Manuel Alvarez, who is accused of causing a 2005 Metrolink derailment that killed 11 people and injured nearly 200 others. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley rebuffed defense attorneys’ claims that not enough evidence had been given to the court at a May 2005 pretrial hearing where Alvarez was ordered to stand trial. Alvarez was charged with 11 counts of murder with special circumstances and one count each of arson and train wrecking.

LOS ANGELES — A retired Glendale police officer testified in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday that there was very little evidence suggesting that Juan Manuel Alvarez tried to reverse off of train tracks minutes before a train slammed into his Jeep Cherokee, a claim central to his defense in connection with the January 2005 train wreck that left 11 dead and nearly 200 others injured. Matthew Gunnell — who helped investigate the Jan. 26, 2005, crash in which a Metrolink train struck Alvarez’s SUV, derailing and smashed two other trains — told attorneys that he did not find much evidence to support claims that Alvarez tried to back off the train tracks that run perpendicular to Chevy Chase Drive, along the Glendale and Los Angeles border.

LOS ANGELES — A retired Glendale police officer testified in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday that there was very little evidence suggesting that Juan Manuel Alvarez tried to reverse off of train tracks minutes before a train slammed into his Jeep Cherokee, a claim central to his defense in connection with the January 2005 train wreck that left 11 dead and nearly 200 others injured. Matthew Gunnell — who helped investigate the Jan. 26, 2005, crash in which a Metrolink train struck Alvarez’s SUV, derailing and smashed two other trains — told attorneys that he did not find much evidence to support claims that Alvarez tried to back off the train tracks that run perpendicular to Chevy Chase Drive, along the Glendale and Los Angeles border.

LOS ANGELES — The case against Juan Manuel Alvarez, accused of causing the deaths of 11 people after a Metrolink train plowed into his Jeep Cherokee in 2005, moved forward Thursday as a witness close to Alvarez portrayed him as respectful and well-mannered. “Juan Alvarez always treated me with respect,” said Olga Perez, who took part in traditional Aztec dance rituals in Cypress with the 29-year-old Alvarez. “He was always very polite, very helpful. He would never joke around like some of the other kids would joke around and play.

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — Jurors on Wednesday visited the mangled wreckage and charred remains of four Metrolink train cars at the heart of the case against Juan Manuel Alvarez, as the penalty phase against the day laborer continued for a third day. The viewing was proposed by prosecutors who wanted to give jurors a more intimate look at the damaged train cars that they heard about during the eight-week trial, officials said. Alvarez, who opted to remain in his Men’s County Jail cell in Los Angeles during the jury viewing, was convicted of 11 counts of first-degree murder on June 26 for parking his Jeep Cherokee on a set of Metrolink tracks 125 feet from the Chevy Chase Drive crossing in Glendale.

Family members of the 11 people killed in the 2005 Metrolink train derailment no longer need to wonder what will happen to the man who caused it. Juan Manuel Alvarez was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for parking his sport utility vehicle on the tracks and causing the worst wreck in Metrolink history. Many people, including the prosecution, thought Alvarez should be put to death, but the real comfort for victims? families and the community is that it?

LOS ANGELES ? A Superior Court judge on Monday gave defense attorneys for Juan Manuel Alvarez ? accused of murdering 11 people in the Jan. 26, 2005, Metrolink train derailment ? until June 16 to submit a letter detailing why prosecutors should reconsider seeking the death penalty. The district attorney's office announced in August that it would seek the death penalty for Alvarez. But after a new defense team came on to represent Alvarez in September, Deputy District Atty. Patrick Dixon offered to let them submit a reconsideration letter on the death penalty decision, he said Tuesday.

It's been a year and half since the deadliest train crash in Metrolink's history killed 11 people and injured nearly 200. Yet, the victims and their families are no closer to justice. Multiple changes in defense attorneys have stalled a legal case that should already be well on its way to determining if Juan Manuel Alvarez is guilty of intentionally causing the Jan. 26, 2006, crash and of murder for parking his Jeep Cherokee on the train tracks near Chevy Chase Drive and dousing it with gasoline ?

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Juan Manuel Alvarez, accused of murdering 11 people in the January Metrolink train derailment, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office announced in court Friday. A committee met Wednesday to go over the case, and the chairman of the committee, Kurt Hazell, made the final decision, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office. "It's not a popular vote," she said. "But the committee discusses the case and the chairman makes the final decision."