The Denver-based federal appeals court took no issue on Tuesday with a trial judge’s decision to impose the same sentences upon a mother and daughter who pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining and selling body parts, two years after the court found flaws with the original sentencing.

In upholding the 20-year and 15-year prison sentences, respectively, for Megan Hess and Shirley Koch, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit rejected the argument that a “vulnerable” victim under federal sentencing guidelines means someone who is less likely to “detect” or “thwart” fraud than an average person.

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That standard “is not supported by the Guidelines or by our precedents, and we therefore do not adopt it here,” wrote Judge Carolyn B. McHugh in the Oct. 27 opinion .…