Denver, Colorado
AP
—
A Colorado choose rejected the plea deal of a funeral home proprietor accused of stashing almost 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested constructing Monday after members of the family of the deceased argued that the deal’s 15 to 20-year sentence was too lenient.
Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, owned Return to Nature Funeral Home and are accused of dumping the our bodies in a constructing in a rural city between 2019 and 2023, giving families fake ashes and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000.
Jon and Carie Hallford each pleaded responsible to 191 counts of corpse abuse final yr, and State District Judge Eric Bentley has now rejected each of their plea offers after members of the family requested for a extra extreme punishment.
A choose rejecting a plea deal could be very uncommon, and Carie Hallford can now both withdraw her responsible plea or proceed with out the deal, that means she might get a increased sentence.
Jon Hallford withdrew his responsible plea and is scheduled for trial.
After the invention of the our bodies, families discovered that their family’ stays weren’t within the urn or the ashes they ceremonially unfold, however as a substitute have been languishing with almost 190 different our bodies. Some stated they’d nightmares of what their cherished one should have regarded like in that constructing; others puzzled about their family’ souls.