They argued that on the morning of the derailment, homicide, not suicide, was on Alvarez's mind. Before he drove his vehicle onto the tracks, Alvarez acknowledged that he had thoughts about killing his wife at her job. But she was not at work at that time.
As a result, prosecutors argued, innocent Metrolink passengers bore the consequences of his wrath at his wife.
Teresa Nance, whose mother, Elizabeth Hill, was a crash victim, was perturbed that Alvarez showed no remorse while the verdict was being read. "He didn't seem to care," she said.
McKeown's widow said the years since his death had been torture for her and her two children, 11 and 9.
A lifelong train buff, Scott McKeown often took his children on train rides from their home in Moorpark in Ventura County for lunch or just to have ice cream. The couple dreamed of Scott being able to earn enough money so that Susan could stay at home with their daughter and son. A week before the crash, Scott, a telecommunications manager for the city of Pasadena, finally got the raise they needed for her to quit her part-time job.
Nearly every day of the eight-week trial, tow truck driver Todd McKeown sat in the audience absorbing often painful evidence, including photographs of his brother's body after the crash. A worker of long hours, he sometimes struggled to stay awake in court.
"It was devastating to see my brother, but I also knew I had to face it," he said. "I had to face it. I had to be there. I couldn't turn my back on any part of it."
Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said her company shared in the family members' grief.
"No matter what happens, we cannot look at this situation with anything but sadness," she said. "Nothing is going to bring these 11 people back."
Some crash survivors and victims' families have sued Metrolink, contending that the agency could have minimized the damage by placing an engine at the front of the train rather than the back. Tyrrell said such a practice could have made the losses worse had diesel in an engine caught fire.
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ann.simmons@latimes.com
jack.leonard@latimes.com
