California Couple Sentenced to Life for Killing Teens

A California couple convicted of murdering their two teenage children and abusing their younger sons received life sentences without the possibility of parole on Monday in a Los Angeles County courtroom. Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 49, were sentenced for the November 29, 2020, killings of their 13-year-old daughter, Maliaka, and 12-year-old son, Maurice, in the family's home in Lancaster, a city about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

The couple was found guilty last November of two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances, as well as two felony counts of child abuse. Prosecutors presented evidence that Taylor and Brothwell stabbed and decapitated the teenagers inside the residence. Following the killings, the parents forced their two younger sons, then ages 8 and 9, to view the bodies and then confined them in their bedrooms without food for several days.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman described the crimes as a "monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family." In a statement after the verdict, Hochman said, "Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to...