Train crash motive questioned

Prosecutors continued Thursday to try to undermine Juan Manuel Alvarez’s testimony that he only planned to commit suicide and didn’t intend to harm anyone else when he drove his SUV onto railway tracks three years ago and caused a deadly Metrolink crash.

Under cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. John Monaghan, Alvarez acknowledged that shortly after the crash, he told an emergency room doctor that he “wanted to feel the pain that the people in the train felt.” He also admitted telling his landlady that he “couldn’t commit suicide” because he couldn’t die.

“Do you say what you feel will help you at any given time?” Monaghan asked.

“No,” said Alvarez.

“You don’t try to make yourself look good?” Monaghan continued.

Slightly chuckling, Alvarez said “No.”

Prosecutors were seeking to show that the 29-year-old Compton man parked his sport utility vehicle on the tracks on Jan. 26, 2005, knowing that it would derail a train. That train hit a parked freight train, then collided with another oncoming passenger train. Eleven people were killed and 180 were injured in the crash, which occurred near Glendale. If convicted, Alvarez, who is charged with 11 counts of murder and one count each of train-wrecking and arson, could face the death penalty.

Monaghan also sought to show that Alvarez lied about dousing himself with gasoline in an attempt to burn himself before the train collision.

The defendant acknowledged that he never mentioned this fact to paramedics, police or doctors who interviewed and treated him immediately after the crash.

Instead, Monaghan alleged that Alvarez made up the incident after learning in pretrial hearings that murder as a result of arson carried the death penalty.

“You didn’t tell anyone you doused yourself with gasoline until after your arrest and after you consulted with your attorney. Is that correct?”

“That’s correct,” said Alvarez, who has been on the witness stand for three days.

But in statements made outside the jury’s presence, defense attorney Michael Belter told Superior Court Judge William Pounders that Alvarez didn’t mention being doused with gasoline during his interviews with police because “the officers didn’t ask him.”

Pressed by Monaghan, Alvarez also acknowledged that since retuning to the United States from Mexicali, Mexico, where he lived from age 1 to his pre-teen years, he had many opportunities for a good life.

He moved in with his cousin and attended school and college. His cousin, a construction company owner, always made sure Alvarez had work.

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ann.simmons@latimes.com