VAN NUYS : Prosecutors Plan to Seek Death Penalty

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty when a sentencing hearing begins today for a Reseda man convicted in the 1990 shooting deaths of his former girlfriend and her sister.

Dean Roger McGrath, 31, a former sheet metal worker, was found guilty in Van Nuys Superior Court on Tuesday of two counts of first-degree murder in the July 11, 1990, deaths of his former girlfriend, Marleen Taylor, 32, and her sister, Kathleen Fien, 30.

McGrath was also convicted Tuesday of a sole count of attempted murder in the attack. Anthony DeLuca, who had been living at the sisters’ house, was shot in the arm and back, Deputy Dist. Atty. Sera J. Boyadjian said.

At the trial, McGrath testified that Taylor had been scheming to kill him. Boyadjian alleged that McGrath killed Taylor after years of abusing her, and said McGrath had been convicted twice of beating Taylor.

DeLuca testified that he had been watching television when McGrath stormed in the house and pointed a gun at him. DeLuca said he escaped out a back door but McGrath caught him and shot him twice.

According to testimony at the trial, Taylor’s two boys, ages 2 and 4, were asleep when the attack began. They were not injured but awoke to find that their mother and aunt had been shot.