In November, jurors found Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 49, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the Nov. 29, 2020, stabbings and decapitations of their son, Maurice, and teen daughter, Maliaka, along with finding true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. They were also convicted of child abuse.
Lancaster parents convicted of decapitating their 2 children
Prosecutors said the parents forced their two younger sons, ages 8 and 9, to view their siblings' bodies and remain confined in their bedrooms without food for several days.
"This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family," L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement after their conviction. "Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to live through unimaginable horror."
Despite an emotional statement from Brothwell in court in which she maintained her innocence and said she "did not murder my children" and had tried to save them, the judge said she found no evidence of "genuine remorse" from the defendants and that there was instead "silence where accountability should be."
In a statement read in court on her behalf, the victims' maternal grandmother said Taylor had "ruined so many lives," while maintaining that her daughter is "innocent."
The judge rejected a motion for a new trial from Taylor's attorney, Christopher C. Chaney, saying that the verdict was "fully supported by the evidence."
"How do you put into words that two children were beheaded?" Ellen, a close family friend, said outside the courthouse.
"This stays with all of us. This is never going to wash off," Ellen added.
Ellen said she still cannot understand why her friend, Brothwell, was complicit in the children's murders.
She said the couple's relationship had been violent for years and that she had urged Brothwell to leave.
"She was doing what we were raised to believe. You stand by your man," Ellen said. "You have a family and you raise your children."
City News Service contributed to this report.