The owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home will enter pleas at a hearing in September, an El Paso County judge decided Thursday.

Carie and Jon Hallford face 286 criminal charges stemming from the discovery in October of 189 bodies improperly stored at the funeral home in Penrose.

The Hallfords had been expected to plead not guilty to all charges Thursday based on their attorneys’ statements at two previous arraignment hearings. Since then, however, the Hallfords have been offered a plea deal by the prosecution, making the Hallfords’ intentions moving forward less clear.

Carie Hallford appeared in court Thursday out of custody, but Jon Hallford did not appear after federal law enforcement failed to execute on a writ to have him brought to El Paso County for the hearing, his attorney Jonathon Stafford said to the court.

Stafford said that his client’s absence did not change their intentions for the hearing, which was to request a continuance of the arraignment hearing. Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, informed the court that he would be requesting the same.

According to an email sent out to family members obtained by The Gazette, the plea offer would see both Hallfords plead guilty to 190 counts of abuse of a corpse. If accepted, Jon Hallford would serve a mandatory sentence of 20 years in prison, while Carie Hallford would serve 15 to 20 years.

To allow for the maximum possible time to discuss the plea with their clients, both defense attorneys asked Judge Eric Bentley for an arraignment date as close to the plea expiration date of Oct. 4 as possible.

Bentley, who now presides over the case after Judge William Moller’s criminal cases were moved to Bentley’s courtroom, granted the request and set for a final arraignment on Sept. 20.

On that date, the Hallfords will accept the plea deal or plead not guilty and be set for trial.

Prosecutor Rachael Powell didn’t object to the continuance.

The Hallfords also face charges at the federal level. In April, the couple pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of wire fraud in federal court in Denver. On Thursday, Powell told the court she had no updates on the federal case other than that plea negotiations are “ongoing.”

Trial in the federal case is set to begin Oct. 22, Powell said.

Jon Hallford is being held without bond pending the outcome of his federal case, despite being released on a $100,000 bond in his state-level case. To ensure Jon Hallford is transported from federal custody for his next court case, Bentley issued a bench warrant against Jon Hallford.

Jon Hallford is in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution at Englewood, according to prison records.

Carie Hallford remains free on a $100,000 bond.