Shawnte Hardin, a man from Toledo, Ohio, has been charged with running an unlicensed funeral business and abusing bodies. Hardin waived his right to have a trial by jury and will instead appear in front of a judge for a bench trial.
The list of charges against Hardin include:
- One count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony.
- Three counts of tampering with records, third-degree felonies.
- One count of theft, a fourth-degree felony.
- Eight counts of abuse of a corpse, all fifth-degree felonies.
- Five counts of failure to file taxes, all fifth-degree felonies.
- Five counts of passing bad checks, all fifth-degree felonies.
- Two counts of identity fraud, both fifth-degree felonies.
- Two counts of telecommunications fraud, both fifth-degree felonies.
- Six counts of representation as a funeral director while unlicensed, two unclassified felonies and four unclassified misdemeanors.
- Single counts of fifth-degree felony criminal tools and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
- One count of operating an unlicensed funeral home, an unclassified felony.
- One count of failure to refrigerate a human body, an unclassified misdemeanor.
Denver Criminal Defense attorney, Jeffrey Wolf, joins CourtTV to discuss the opening statements of this trial. “I was a little concerned he couldn’t remember the name of his witnesses, he kept saying there’s a person who’s going to say this, a person said that… he kept using pronouns and not using proper names…” The opening from the State seemed to drag on a bit too long, and with the ambiguous language being used it did not lend itself well to a strong opening statement. Check back for more updates on the case and more commentary from Jeffrey Wolf.
