11 life sentences for Metrolink crash

A man convicted of causing a deadly commuter rail crash that he blamed on an attempt to commit suicide was sentenced Wednesday to 11 consecutive life terms by a judge who denounced him as a remorseless killer.

Superior Court Judge William Pounders said he would have imposed a sentence of “forever” on Juan Alvarez, if it were possible. Alvarez will not be eligible for parole.

Alvarez parked his gasoline-soaked SUV on railroad tracks in suburban Glendale, where it was struck by a Metrolink train that derailed and struck another Metrolink train traveling in the other direction on Jan. 26, 2005. Eleven people were killed and about 180 were injured.

The defense maintained Alvarez had changed his mind at the last minute about trying to commit suicide on the tracks but couldn’t move the SUV before it was struck.

Stamford, Conn.

Jury convicts ‘Dinnertime Bandit’

The man dubbed the “Dinnertime Bandit” was convicted Wednesday of robbing upscale homes in the evening, while residents were home and had turned off their alarms.

The jurors convicted Alan Golder of kidnapping, two counts of burglary and one count of larceny.

In a prison interview in February, Golder said he burglarized hundreds of homes from 1975 to 1980, including those of Johnny Carson, the Kennedys in Florida and singer Glen Campbell.

He went to prison after a fatal shooting but returned to burglarizing homes soon after he was released in 1996.

He fled in 1997 and lived in Europe before being arrested in Belgium in 2006 and extradited to Connecticut.