A MAN who parked his car on a Los Angeles railway line causing an horrific train crash that killed 11 people three years ago was today convicted of murder and faces the death penalty.
Juan Manuel Alvarez, 29, was found guilty shortly after a Los Angeles Superior Court jury began their second day of deliberations following a two-month trial.
Jurors ruled that the killings carried the special circumstance of multiple murder, meaning Alvarez could face a death sentence when the penalty phase of his trial begins on July 7.
Prosecutors said Alvarez caused the accident on the Metrolink commuter line on January 26, 2005 deliberately to get attention.
His lawyers claimed however that Alvarez had parked his car on the tracks to commit suicide but was unable to remove it after he changed his mind at the last minute.
Alvarez's car was hit by a Los Angeles-bound train, which derailed and then ploughed into a train going in the opposite direction.
As well as the 11 fatalities more than 180 people were injured.
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