A jury that convicted Juan Manuel Alvarez of the firstdegree murders of 11 people who perished in a fiery Metrolink crash in January 2005 recommended earlier this week that he be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"Given the human suffering and loss of life inflicted by Alvarez, this case was appropriately put before the jury for a penalty decision," said District Attorney Steve Cooley in a prepared statement. "Great credit should go to the Glendale Police Department investigators and Deputy District Attorneys John Monaghan and Cathryn Brougham of the Major Crimes Division."

The jury reached the penalty verdicts after less than a halfday of deliberation. Alvarez, 29, is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 20 by Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders, who presided over the nearly three-month trial.

The same jurors took just over a day to convict Alvarez last month of 11 counts of firstdegree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders. The nine women and three men also convicted him of one count of arson, but found him not guilty of one count of train wrecking.

The 11 victims were killed and nearly 200 others injured in the pre-dawn crash on Jan. 26, 2005, near Chevy Chase Drive. The Metrolink train derailed after hitting Alvarez's Jeep Cherokee, which he had left on the track.

The train, which had just left Glendale, was filled with early morning commuters bound for downtown Los Angeles. It was the worst Metrolink disaster since the trains started running 16 years ago.

Witnesses testified that Alvarez left the SUV on the track after dousing it with gasoline. He ran away, but was tracked down on the basis of identification cards found at the scene.

Alvarez was found at a friend's home in Atwater Village, not far from the site of the derailment.

He has been in jail without bail since his arrest.

Killed in the crash were James Tutino, 47, a sheriff 's deputy from Simi Valley; Scott McKeoun, 42, of Moorpark; Manuel Alcala, 51, of West Hills; Thomas Ormiston, 58, the train's conductor from Northridge; Leonard Romero, 53, of Rancho Cucamonga; Henry Kilinski, 39, of Orange; Alfonso Caballero, 62, of Winnetka; Julie Bennett, 44, of Simi Valley; Don Wiley, 58, of Simi Valley; Elizabeth Hill, 65; and William Parent, 53, of Simi Valley. Many of the dead worked for government agencies in and around Los Angeles.

Family members of the victims testified at the weeklong penalty phase.

Jurors began deliberations late Monday and announced at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday they had reached a decision.