One of the owners of a southern Colorado funeral home where the remains of 191 people were left to rot will now stand trial for state fraud charges in that case.

File photo of Jon Hallford, left, in El Paso County Court. CBS

Jon Hallford withdrew from his plea deal on Friday, instead pleading not guilty to abusing corpses after a judge rejected that plea agreement in a rare decision.

The judge said he made that decision after hearing testimony from the loved ones of those people saying the plea agreement does not do the victims justice. The plea agreement would have resulted in a 20 year sentence in Colorado prison.

Police arrested Hallford and his wife Carie after neighbors smelled what turned out to be the remains inside the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose in 2023

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