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Colorado funeral home bill, partially prompted by Summit case, signed into law

Shannon and Staci Kent are the former operators of the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home. The Kents have been charged with crimes relating to the abuse of a corpse.
Taylor Sienkiewicz/Summit Daily News archive

On Monday, March 21, Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a bill that was partly prompted from a Summit County case.

Shannon and Staci Kent were arrested in February 2021 after officers with the Silverthorne Police Department discovered a decaying body that had reportedly been left for several months in the Kents’ Silverthorne funeral home.

According to a news release, the law expands the authority of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies to inspect and investigate funeral homes and crematories for malpractice based on complaints.



State Rep. Dylan Roberts is quoted in the release as saying the law will make it easier for state agencies to identify negligence in funeral homes and crematories.

In the Summit County case, Shannon Kent was charged with felony counts of criminal attempt to commit tampering with a deceased human body, abuse of a corpse and violation of bail bond conditions. His wife, Staci Kent, was charged with felony counts of criminal attempt to commit tampering with a deceased human body and abuse of a corpse. The Kents pleaded not guilty to all charges in May.



Earlier this month, a second mistrial was declared in the Kent case after the judge cited a lack of qualified jurors and a large amount of media attention.


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