A Colorado judge on Monday rejected a plea deal entered by one of the owners of a former southern Colorado funeral home. Carie Hallford appeared in court on Monday.

Two years ago, nearly 190 improperly stored bodies were found in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose. It has since been demolished.

Under the initial plea deal, Hallford would have served 15-20 years in prison on state charges. That would be on top of any federal sentence.

In court on Monday, some family members of the deceased argued that the plea agreement's 15- to 20-year sentence was too lenient. They described the pain of discovering their relatives' remains weren't in the urn or the ashes they ceremonially spread, but instead were languishing with other bodies, some for four years.

"The sentence negotiated by

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