EDITORIAL:The families deserve some swift justice too

It's been a year and half since the deadliest train crash in Metrolink's history killed 11 people and injured nearly 200. Yet, the victims and their families are no closer to justice.

Multiple changes in defense attorneys have stalled a legal case that should already be well on its way to determining if Juan Manuel Alvarez is guilty of intentionally causing the Jan. 26, 2006, crash and of murder for parking his Jeep Cherokee on the train tracks near Chevy Chase Drive and dousing it with gasoline ? leaving it to be struck by a train.

The latest delay came this week when Alvarez's public defenders, Rose Reglos and Luis J. Rodriguez, told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders they could not defend Alvarez any longer because of a conflict, which was not made public. Their departure follows the exodus of pro bono attorney Eric Chase, who left because he didn't have the resources to mount a case against the death penalty, which Alvarez faces if convicted of the charges of murders with special circumstances.

The change means more frustration, more waiting as new lawyers are sought and, once found, waiting as they get up to speed with the details of the case.

Alvarez deserves a fair trial and a solid defense, and every effort must be made to make sure that happens. But the victims of this tragedy also deserve to have this case resolved. They should not be left wondering if more time waiting means less of a chance for a just trial ? a prospect that looms large as even the prosecutor has no idea if the case will come to trial before the end of the year.

This case must move more quickly, for the sake of keeping evidence fresh and for assuring that witnesses' accounts aren't made fuzzy by the passage of time.

Getting through this trial will not bring back the 11 lives lost and the so many turned upside down on Jan. 26, 2005; it will likely bring back painful memories. But it can bring to a close a sad chapter for the many who were involved in this incident ? from the survivors, to their families and even the many who responded to it and were left to deal with the carnage.

For now, that chapter is full of unfinished business, discouraging stalls and fear about the vulnerability of local commuter trains to vehicles parked at at-grade crossings.

Alvarez himself deserves a quicker pace of justice.

For more than a year he has lived in a jail cell, unable to tell his story in court.

A revolving door of attorneys and continual legal stalls are no good for anyone. Instead of healing and moving on from a tragic day, there's only frustration.