Ending a legal saga surrounding the deadliest train crash in Metrolink history, a Los Angeles jury decided Tuesday to spare the life of a former Compton laborer convicted of triggering the 2005 wreck that killed 11 people and injured at least 180 others.
Juan Manuel Alvarez, 29, smiled broadly and spoke quietly to a member of his defense team after the verdict was read in a packed downtown courtroom. Under the jury's verdict, Alvarez will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Alberto Romero -- whose uncle, Leonardo Romero, was killed in the crash -- said he watched Alvarez's reaction to the verdicts with disgust.
"From the beginning, he's had a smirk on his face," Romero said. "He shows no remorse whatsoever. And just as he showed no remorse, there should be no remorse for . . . him in prison."
Many of the victims' relatives who attended Tuesday's verdict said they were relieved that Alvarez would never be released from prison. Some, however, said they believed he deserved the death penalty.
Thomas W. Kielty, one of Alvarez's two court-appointed attorneys, said his client was still "haunted with remorse" but has tried to stay focused in recent months on the legal issues involved in his trial.
Alvarez's smile at Tuesday's verdict was one of relief because he was spared the death penalty, Kielty said, adding, "I would say he's emotionally overwhelmed."
Jurors, who had wept days earlier as victims' relatives testified about their loss, reached their decision after deliberating for less than 3 1/2 hours. The same panel of nine women and three men last month found Alvarez guilty on 11 counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson.
The tragedy unfolded in the early hours of Jan. 26, 2005, when Alvarez parked his sport utility vehicle on railroad tracks near Glendale and fled. A Metrolink passenger train plowed into the vehicle, struck a parked freight train and slammed into an oncoming commuter train.
Prosecutors had argued that Alvarez intended to kill commuters as part of a sick attempt to gain attention from his estranged wife. But defense attorneys described Alvarez's actions as part of an aborted suicide attempt that never meant to harm anyone else.
Speaking after Tuesday's verdict, the jury's foreman said he believed Alvarez had never intended to kill anyone but had meant to cause a spectacular crash.
