Colorado Judge Rejects Plea Deals for Funeral Home Couple Accused of Corpse Abuse
A Colorado judge has rejected plea deals for Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home, who pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse last year. The couple is accused of storing nearly 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested building, causing emotional distress to families who received fake ashes and urns.
The Hallfords were initially offered a plea deal with sentences ranging from 15 to 20 years. However, family members argued that this was too lenient. State District Judge Eric Bentley agreed and rejected the deal. Jon Hallford has since withdrawn his guilty plea and is set for trial. His wife, Carie, can either withdraw her plea or proceed without the deal, potentially facing a harsher sentence. Despite revoking her confession, Carie Hallford has not received additional penalties yet.
The couple is accused of dumping bodies in a building between 2019 and 2023, defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000. The discovery of the bodies revealed that families had been given fake ashes and urns, causing significant emotional distress.
With the plea deals rejected, the Hallfords' case proceeds towards trial. Jon Hallford's trial is scheduled, and Carie Hallford must decide whether to withdraw her plea or face potential consequences. The couple's actions have caused immense distress to families, and the court aims to deliver justice accordingly.
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
