10th Circuit affirms 20-year sentence for woman who sold body parts out of Colorado funeral home

Megan Hess and her mother pleaded guilty in 2022 to charges related to selling parts from bodies brought to the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home for cremation during the mid-2010s.DENVER (CN) — The 10th Circuit affirmed on Tuesday hefty sentences for two women who pleaded guilty to mail fraud for running a multiyear body brokering business out of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado.“We conclude that the district court correctly applied the section 3A1.1(b)(2) enhancement to calculate each defendant’s advisory Guidelines range. We are also unpersuaded by Ms. Hess’s arguments regarding post-sentencing rehabilitative efforts and Ms. Koch’s substantive reasonableness challenge,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Carolyn McHugh in a 56-page opinion.Over the course of eight years, while running the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, Megan Hess and her mother, Shirley Koch, sold human remains brought in for funeral services to medical research companies that used them for plasticization and study.In all, the women made $1.2 million off 811 bodies, of which federal investigators found only 42 families gave informed consent.Facing more than two dozen federal charges, Hess and Koch each pleaded guilty to a single charge of mail fraud in 2022. As part of the plea agreement, the federal government agreed not to seek a sentence beyond 6.5 years.After listening to hours of emotional testimony in January 2023, Senior U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello sentenced Hess to 20 years in prison and Koch to 15.Both women appealed, and a 10th Circuit panel vacated their sentences in July 2024, finding Arguello wrongly applied a vulnerable victim enhancement. The panel denied Hess’ request for a new judge, handing the case back to the George W. Bush appointee.During a second sentencing hearing, Arguello heard evidence from 21 people who were poor, elderly or had lost their loved one to a terminal illness. Prosecutors argued this criteria rendered the victims particularly vulnerable to the scheme, justifying the enhanced sentence.Arguello resentenced Hess to 20 years and her mother to 15.Both women appealed, contesting the sentencing enhancement. Hess argued against the criteria used to support the enhancement, and Koch challenged the quantity of people needed to trigger the enhancement.The panel, however, found the criteria appropriate in assessing victim vulnerability, which was intricately linked to the fraud.“If defendants had not used their promises of discounted or free cremation services to lure these especially vulnerable victims into their scheme, then they would not have had access to the bodies that they dismembered and fraudulently sold for their own gain,” McHugh wrote.At her resentencing, Hess also presented evidence of enrolling in education classes and attending Bible study, leading a social worker to assess her recidivism risk to zero. Arguello, however, observed the report focused on how Hess worked on herself, leaving out any remorse she might have developed for her victims.The appellate panel nevertheless found the lower court “may consider” post-sentencing rehabilitative efforts, but it wasn’t required to.The panel was likewise unpersuaded by Koch’s assertion that 15 years in prison for a 71-year-old woman amounts to a death sentence.Senior U.S. Circuit Judges David Ebel and Paul Kelly joined McHugh’s opinion. Ronald Reagan appointed Ebel, and George H.W. Bush appointed Kelly.Assistant Federal Public Defender Jacob Rasch-Chabot represented Hess. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads