Juan Manuel Alvarez

LOS ANGELES — A Superior Court judge and attorneys Tuesday went over the language in a jury statement that will be read to potential jurors as they prepare for the trial in a class-action lawsuit regarding the January 2005 Metrolink train derailment in Glendale that killed 11 people. Judge Emilie Elias will read the statement, which briefly explains the case and role of a jury, to potential jurors at the June 8 jury selection hearing at Central Civil West Court. Attorneys representing Metrolink and those representing the victims of the derailment argued about whether language in the statement should say that Juan Manuel Alvarez was convicted of first-degree murder or just murder.

  LOS ANGELES -- Prosecutors continued their closing Thursday in the case against Juan Manuel Alvarez, telling jurors that he had confessed to second-degree murder before the nearly 8-month trial began. Alvarez is charged with 11counts of murder with special circumstances and one count each of felony murder train-wrecking and arson for his role in the Jan. 26, 2005, Metrolink crash that left 11 dead and 184 others injured. During an interview in jail with mental health expert Mace Beckson, Alvarez said he knew he was doomed when his jeep would not budge from the train tracks, District Attorney John Monaghan said.

Jackson Bell Metrolink officials stood behind the practice of locomotives pushing train cars from behind, calling it a safe and cost-effective operation despite assertions by an engineer and train union spokesman that a locomotive pulling operation could have lessened the damage from Wednesday's disaster. The three-train crash killed 11 people and injured nearly 200 more. Metrolink Chief Executive David Solow, at a press conference Friday morning, defended his agency's practice of leading trains with cab cars and having locomotives chugging from behind.

Jackson Bell The 25-year-old man accused of causing a commuter train wreck that killed 11 and injured more than 180 Wednesday will face murder charges, prosecutors said, but his first court appearance was delayed Thursday for medical reasons. Juan Manuel Alvarez of Compton parked his Jeep Cherokee on the train tracks near Chevy Chase Drive in an apparent suicide attempt early Wednesday morning but changed his mind and left the SUV on the track, police said.

Robert Chacon Three months before Juan Manuel Alvarez allegedly left his Jeep Cherokee in the path of an oncoming train in Glendale Wednesday, causing a deadly crash, he started threatening his wife and family and made accusations against them, according to officials and a temporary restraining order his wife filed against him in Compton Superior Court. Police believe Juan Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee in the path of an oncoming Metrolink train early Wednesday in hopes of committing suicide.

LOS ANGELES — A judge presiding over the criminal trial of Juan Manuel Alvarez — who is accused of causing the Jan. 26, 2005, Metrolink train wreck in Glendale that killed 11 people — agreed Friday to summon hundreds of jurors for pre-screening because publicity of the accident likely led many to form opinions. After Judge William R. Pounders suggested summoning 300 jurors, Alvarez’s attorneys, Michael Belter and Tom Kielty, who flanked the defendant at a pretrial hearing Friday, requested at least 400. “Given the publicity of the case, [300]

LOS ANGELES ? Nearly 50 potential jurors were dismissed Monday as the trial nears for Juan Manuel Alvarez, who faces capital murder charges for the 2005 Metrolink derailment that killed 11 and injured nearly 200 others. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders excused many would-be jurors, citing answers they gave on a questionnaire as potential conflicts of interest. The 23-page questionnaire was meant to elicit individuals? opinions of the death penalty, knowledge of the case or other factors that might have complicated their ability to impartially render a verdict.

GLENDALE — A judge on Thursday refused to dismiss charges against 29-year-old Juan Manuel Alvarez, who is accused of causing a 2005 Metrolink derailment that killed 11 people and injured nearly 200 others. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley rebuffed defense attorneys’ claims that not enough evidence had been given to the court at a May 2005 pretrial hearing where Alvarez was ordered to stand trial. Alvarez was charged with 11 counts of murder with special circumstances and one count each of arson and train wrecking.

ATWATER VILLAGE — It’s been three years since a Metrolink train slammed into a SUV parked on the tracks near Costco, killing 11 and injuring scores more, but for Miguel Romero, it might as well have been three days ago. His breath clearly visible in the cold, dawn air, Romero recounts that day on Jan. 26, 2005, when his family called to tell him about the crash. He knew his brother, Leonard Romero, was on that train and he immediately tried his cellphone. “I kept calling and calling,” he said.

LOS ANGELES — A retired Glendale police officer testified in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday that there was very little evidence suggesting that Juan Manuel Alvarez tried to reverse off of train tracks minutes before a train slammed into his Jeep Cherokee, a claim central to his defense in connection with the January 2005 train wreck that left 11 dead and nearly 200 others injured. Matthew Gunnell — who helped investigate the Jan. 26, 2005, crash in which a Metrolink train struck Alvarez’s SUV, derailing and smashed two other trains — told attorneys that he did not find much evidence to support claims that Alvarez tried to back off the train tracks that run perpendicular to Chevy Chase Drive, along the Glendale and Los Angeles border.