The sentencing for Jon Hallford, the co-owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home where the bodies of nearly 200 people were discovered in various states of decomposition in October 2023, has been delayed because the judge rejected the plea agreement.
“I decided that I cannot accept the plea agreement in this case,” said El Paso County Judge Eric Bentley in court on Friday afternoon.
The plea agreement called for a 20-year prison sentence that would run concurrently with his 20-year federal sentence.
The judge announced his rejection after dozens of people read victim impact statements during the sentencing hearing that began on Friday morning, many of them urging the judge to reject the agreement, which they felt did not do justice for the crimes committed…