EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KMGH) — Jon Hallford, co-owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home, is set to be sentenced in Southern Colorado on state charges Friday.
Jon and his wife Carie Hallford pleaded guilty to improperly storing nearly 200 bodies.
It's been called a "horrific discovery" by investigators who started to uncover the case in October of 2023.
Jon now faces 30 to 50 years after taking a plea deal, but it took a couple tries.
"In this case, the judge heard from a lot of the families that were very upset. He looked at the plea agreement and said, 'No, this isn't appropriate.' And that's his job. I mean, that's his role," former Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said.
That happened in August of last year when Judge Eric Bentley rejected a deal that would have allowed Jon to plead guilty and receive a 20-year prison sentence. Bentley said at the time that he's never granted a request to reject a plea, and that it was "reserved for the most extreme cases."
Both parties came back in December with a new deal, the judge ultimately accepted.
Denver7 wanted to know how often something like this happens. That's why we talked to Morrissey.
He has played no part in this case, but Morrissey spent more than three decades in courtrooms, negotiation deals, trying cases, and accepting judges' decisions.
In his 33-year career, he said he saw a judge reject a plea deal maybe twice.
"So it's rare, but if you think about it, in Denver, we used to charge 5,000 to 6,000 cases a year, and the judges that were assigned to the criminal division could probably try up close to 100 trials," Morrissey explained. "So plea bargaining is something that you have to do, or otherwise the system would just stop."
Morrissey also highlighted a judge's responsibility to make that final call.
'The judge does have the right to say, ‘No, I'm not accepting this. You can go to trial.’ And I have a feeling had they gone to trial, they'd be looking at a far more time than the original plea bargain and even the second plea bargain," Morrissey said. "This is just a horrible case, as far as I'm concerned. As a prosecutor, facing it would have just been extremely difficult, just dealing with that number of people and all of that."
Previously, Scripps News Denver spoke to families who said they wanted a trial because they felt there were questions that would not be answered without one. They also argued that the Hallfords should serve one year for each of the bodies discovered.
Jon is set to be sentenced Friday only on state charges. He's already been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
Prior coverage:
- Judge accepts plea deal in Return To Nature Funeral Home case, where nearly 200 bodies were improperly stored
- Return to Nature funeral home co-owners enter guilty pleas on state charges
- Return to Nature Funeral Home co-owner Carie Hallford's federal trial reset to September
- Judge orders change to plea agreement for Return to Nature Funeral Home owners in federal case
- Judge rejects plea deal for funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies
- Two new funeral home inspectors are a first for Colorado, and they already made a disturbing discovery
- Demolition of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose complete
- Disposal site finalized for Return to Nature Funeral Home cleanup