Don't kill him.
Jun. 26th, 2008 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgJust put him in a cell near train tracks. Where he can see them...and never get to them again. Maybe where he can see people leaving every day, happy and free as lairds.
Prosecutors denounced his claim of being suicidal as a lie and said he was trying to cause a calamity to get the attention of his estranged wife. Prosecutors said he started out that day with thoughts of killing his wife and then killed the rail passengers because she wasn't available.
The derailment created a horrific scene of mangled rail cars. Workers from nearby businesses scrambled to rescue the injured before firefighters reached the scene.
As he lay injured in the wreck, John Phipps used his own blood to scrawl what he thought would be his last words to his wife and children: "I (heart symbol) my kids. I (heart symbol) Leslie." He survived.
According to trial testimony, Alvarez fled the vehicle, left the scene and went to a friend's house, where he stabbed himself with scissors. Alvarez testified he did not remember stabbing himself but did remember being in a hospital with puncture wounds.
The verdict relieved relatives of the dead.
Alberto Romero said he is reminded of his uncle Leonardo Romero's death every day because Metrolink commuter trains run past his machine shop. Teresa Nance, whose mother, Elizabeth Hill, was killed, said that as the trial began she had nightmares of being in the train with her.
Neither Romero nor Nance, however, thought it was necessary for Alvarez to be executed.
"He needs to think about this every day of his life," said Alberto Romero, 45, of Rancho Cucamonga.
I used to ride those trains every day to get to work. You do that long enough, you make friends of the conductors and engineers that make everything possible.
Friends of mine died that day.
And if those folks can hold off on the death penalty - anyone can.
Prosecutors denounced his claim of being suicidal as a lie and said he was trying to cause a calamity to get the attention of his estranged wife. Prosecutors said he started out that day with thoughts of killing his wife and then killed the rail passengers because she wasn't available.
The derailment created a horrific scene of mangled rail cars. Workers from nearby businesses scrambled to rescue the injured before firefighters reached the scene.
As he lay injured in the wreck, John Phipps used his own blood to scrawl what he thought would be his last words to his wife and children: "I (heart symbol) my kids. I (heart symbol) Leslie." He survived.
According to trial testimony, Alvarez fled the vehicle, left the scene and went to a friend's house, where he stabbed himself with scissors. Alvarez testified he did not remember stabbing himself but did remember being in a hospital with puncture wounds.
The verdict relieved relatives of the dead.
Alberto Romero said he is reminded of his uncle Leonardo Romero's death every day because Metrolink commuter trains run past his machine shop. Teresa Nance, whose mother, Elizabeth Hill, was killed, said that as the trial began she had nightmares of being in the train with her.
Neither Romero nor Nance, however, thought it was necessary for Alvarez to be executed.
"He needs to think about this every day of his life," said Alberto Romero, 45, of Rancho Cucamonga.
I used to ride those trains every day to get to work. You do that long enough, you make friends of the conductors and engineers that make everything possible.
Friends of mine died that day.
And if those folks can hold off on the death penalty - anyone can.
