FOCUS ON DAD AFTER GRISLY DEATHS

Father charged in decapitation case in Lancaster must prove mentally fit for trial.

A Lancaster father accused of decapitating two of his children and showing their two siblings the dead bodies must have a mental competency hearing before the case can move forward, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has decided.

Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 34, made a brief court appearance Monday before Judge Richard Naranjo suspended the proceedings until the Jan. 6 hearing.

Taylor, a personal trainer, was removed from his Lancaster home on Dec. 4 while strapped and handcuffed to a stretcher.

Inside the home, Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s homicide detectives had found his decapitated son and daughter, 12- year- old Maurice Jr. and 13- year- old Maliaka, in separate bedrooms.

Taylor allegedly killed the children the Sunday after Thanksgiving, then kept the bodies inside the house for the next five days.

During this period, prosecutors allege, Taylor showed the dead bodies to his two younger sons, ages 8 and 9, who were kept in their rooms without food.

The gruesome scene was not discovered until calls from Taylor’s clients brought f irefighters to the house on Century Circle.

The clients, who were taking classes via Zoom from Taylor during the coronavirus pandemic, became concerned after he did not send out a link for a scheduled session and could not be reached.

They were worried about a gas leak at the home and asked authorities to check on the family.

On Dec. 8, prosecutors charged Taylor with two counts each of murder and child abuse.

The children’s mother, who was in the house, is not a suspect but has been questioned by investigators and is still in contact with them, said Lt. Brandon Dean of the L. A. County Sheriff ’s Department’s Homicide Bureau.

Taylor is the f irst highprofile murder defendant charged under newly elected Dist. Atty. George Gascón, who has pledged not to seek the death penalty in any new cases.

Gascón has not filed special circumstances charges against Taylor that would include the possibility of life without parole. But he noted this week that a sentence in the case would effectively be a life sentence.