After Aaron's sons were struck down for offering "unauthorized fire before the LORD" (some part of how they went about their duties was not as God wanted it), the last part of Leviticus 10 says how Moses was upset with Aaron and his remaining sons for not properly carrying out an offering by eating part of it. Aaron replied (v 19-20) "Today they sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, but such things as this have happened to me. Would the LORD have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today? When Moses heard this, he was satisfied."
The commentaries suggest that when Aaron said "such things as this have happened to me" he is referring to the recent death of his older sons. It's possible that he and his sons were mourning, so they couldn't eat, or they felt they were unfit at this point to do so. Either way, Moses was satisfied when he saw that it wasn't out of negligence or rebellion that they weren't eating.
Apparently God understood as well. The Kretzmann commentary says, "The law of love is the highest law and supersedes all others. It was so in the Old Testament, as it is in the New, that God desired mercy rather than sacrifice."
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