Lawyer outlines defense in Metrolink crash

The attorney for Juan Manuel Alvarez has outlined how he plans to defend his client in the deadly Glendale Metrolink wreck case, saying the defendant will testify that he tried but failed during an abortive suicide attempt to move his vehicle off the tracks before it was hit by a commuter train.

Alvarez, who could face the death penalty if convicted, will also testify that he doused his green Jeep Grand Cherokee with gasoline as part of the suicide attempt, not in an effort to wreck the train, said defense attorney Michael Belter.

He said that action was Alvarez’s “method of choice” for taking his life and that the only person the defendant planned to kill was himself. “Suicide is an instance where the focus is with respect to yourself and not others,” Belter told reporters Friday outside court after a brief hearing in the case.

A spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley declined to comment on Belter’s statements but said prosecutors were going to trial with what they believed was a “very strong case.” Prosecutors have said they don’t believe Alvarez was trying to kill himself.

“We won’t discuss details so close to trial,” said spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons. “We’ll do our talking in the courtroom.”

Matthew Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor and adjunct professor at Pepperdine Law School, said the accelerant would be key evidence in the case. “If, in fact, he doused gasoline on a sport utility vehicle with the intent to cause the crash, if that’s proven by the government, that would certainly undermine his lawyer’s effort to garner sympathy for him in an effort to avoid the death penalty,” he said.

Alvarez, who had a long history of depression and suicide attempts, is charged with 11 counts of murder and one count of arson for the chain-reaction crash, in which a commuter train struck Alvarez’s parked SUV, derailed and slammed into another commuter train and a freight train Jan. 26, 2005. Alvarez jumped out of the way in time to watch the wreck, which killed 11 people and injured about 180, authorities said.

The district attorney’s special circumstances committee employed a rarely used “train-wrecking” statute to seek the death penalty, a spokeswoman said in 2005.

Alvarez appeared in court Friday in an orange jumpsuit with his ankles shackled. Jury selection is scheduled to begin March 24, and the trial is expected to begin in mid-April.

Belter said he will argue that Alvarez “set in motion events or circumstances that led to this incident” but did not have malice, an essential element of murder.

He said witnesses on the train will testify that the initial crash of the train into the SUV didn’t kill anyone. It was the second and third crashes into a parked locomotive and another passenger train that caused the deaths, tragic coincidences that Alvarez could not have foreseen, Belter said.

Alvarez will testify that his vehicle’s wheels were wedged on either side of the rails and spun in gravel when he tried to move the SUV, Belter said. Alvarez tried putting rocks under the wheels, but the SUV remained stuck, Belter said.

Members of Alvarez’s family, including his parents and siblings, will testify about his long history of depression -- he first attempted suicide at age 8, lying down on a road, hoping a car or bus would run him over, Belter said.

In a parallel civil case, 61 victims are suing Metrolink and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for damages, arguing that safety measures such as a gate would have prevented Alvarez from getting on the tracks.

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victoria.kim@latimes.com