One witness saw Alvarez fall to his knees and cry "hysterically" when he learned people had perished in the wreck, according to court papers filed by defense attorneys. Alvarez's lawyers also say the defendant thought the oncoming train would be a freight train, not a passenger train.
During a recent court hearing, the judge in the case suggested that Alvarez's kneeling outburst could have meant, "Yeah. Thank God it worked the way I planned."
In the aftermath of the calamity, Kielty said, Alvarez was overwhelmed with regret and stabbed himself in the chest in yet another suicide attempt.
Kielty argues that Alvarez could not have foreseen the chain-reaction crash that would result from his parking on the tracks.
"He's a mentally ill, flying-under-the-radar, street-level meth addict," Kielty said. "He just wanted to kill himself."
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, declined to comment on the case, saying that "it would be improper for us to be making any out-of-court comments at this crucial time in the proceeding."
Prosecutors, in court papers, have argued that evidence in the case refutes Alvarez's claim of a suicide bid.
They alleged that he doused both the exterior and interior of his vehicle with gasoline, set the parking brake and left his vehicle on the tracks in front of the Metrolink train.
The intensity of the fire that resulted from the crash "consumed" the front of the train and hampered law enforcement officials from assisting people who were screaming for help, according to the testimony of one law enforcement officer.
Another officer said the hand brake recovered from the wrecked vehicle had been "engaged in the up position," a fact prosecutors say disproves Alvarez's claims that he tried to move his car before the train struck.
In a parallel civil case, 61 victims are suing Metrolink and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for liability. Their case includes arguments that safety measures, such as a gate, would have prevented Alvarez from getting onto the tracks; and that a controversial "push-pull" system for operating trains enhanced the risk of death and injury to the passengers.
J. Clark Aristei, plaintiffs' liaison counsel for the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, a team of lawyers representing people who have filed personal injury and wrongful-death cases, expressed concern that the criminal trial might fail to adequately resolve key questions that are at the core of the civil case. These include how the tragedy happened, what caused it, who's responsible and how it could have been prevented.
As a result, the conclusion could be drawn that "whatever happens in the criminal case is it, so why are we having a civil trial?" Aristei said. The civil trial is scheduled to begin in August.
Aristei said his clients' feelings about Alvarez span "the full range of human emotions" from "forgiving Mr. Alvarez, to wanting to see him suffer the maximum penalty."
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ann.simmons@latimes.com
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Times staff writer Victoria Kim contributed to this report.
