Cosmo DiNardo's cousin rejects plea deal, faces possible death penalty in four murders
By Laurie Mason Schroeder and Pamela Lehman
The Morning Call
Sean Kratz, the cousin of Cosmo DiNardo and his alleged accomplice in the killing of four Bucks County men, rejected a plea deal Wednesday afternoon and prosecutors put the death penalty back on the table.
Kratz, of Philadelphia, and DiNardo, of Bensalem, both 21, are each charged with multiple counts of criminal homicide in the July 7 killings of Dean Finnochiaro, 19, Thomas Meo, 21, and Mark Sturgis, 22. DiNardo is also charged with killing 19-year-old Jimi Taro Patrick, who was killed July 5, authorities say.
Kratz rejected a plea bargain in which he’d serve 59 to 118 years in prison for third-degree murder and related charges. The case will now go to trial.
Kratz’s attorneys, Craig Penglase and Niels Eriksen, declined to comment on their client’s decision. A hearing before Bucks County Judge Jeffrey Finley was delayed nearly an hour Wednesday as the lawyers and District Attorney Matt Weintraub spoke to Kratz in a courthouse holding cell.
Lawyers on both sides of the case said earlier that they expected Kratz to accept the plea deal.
Kratz did not testify during the brief hearing but answered “yes sir” as Penglase questioned him in open court about his rejection of the plea deal.
Families of the four homicide victims were in the courtroom when the deal fell apart. They left without a word, walking behind a wall of deputy sheriffs who shielded them from news cameras.
Weintraub said he and the families were “disappointed” by Kratz’s decision, but that he remained resolute to get justice for “our boys.”
Kratz’s change of heart sets the stage for a trial that could pit cousin against cousin. DiNardo, who appeared in court Wednesday morning, pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in prison.
Weintraub said at a news conference following Wednesday’s hearings that DiNardo has agreed to testify against Kratz. He also said prosecutors have Kratz’s confession on video, and it could be played at trial.
“We’ll see if we can get the death penalty against him,” Weintraub said.
While DiNardo has no chance of ever being paroled, Kratz woul have been eligible for parole in 59 years. Since Kratz’s rejected the plea deal, it’s now off the table, Weintraub said.
“The only way that I could be moved to change my mind, is if the families urged us to do so,” Weintraub said. “Because as you know, from the minute we started this case back at the farm, we always had them uppermost in our minds and our thoughts. And if if could spare them some of the anguish that they are going through right this minute, we would potentially consider it.”
Prosecutors say DiNardo lured the four young men to the DiNardo family’s Solebury Township farm with the promise of selling them marijuana before shooting them to death then burning and burying their bodies with a backhoe.
After a five-day manhunt, investigators found three of the bodies in a mass grave, but were unable to locate Patrick’s remains. DiNardo told them where Patrick was buried after his lawyer negotiated a deal with prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table.
A Bucks County detective testified at a prior hearing that Kratz admitted he heard DiNardo shoot Finocchiaro and saw his body, and that he watched DiNardo shoot Sturgis and Meo.
Detective Martin McDonough said Kratz recounted seeing DiNardo run a backhoe over Meo to make sure he was dead. He claimed he vomited after seeing the bodies, according to McDonough’s testimony.
After the shootings, Kratz told police he watched DiNardo move the bodies into a metal “pig cooker,” which DiNardo doused with gasoline and set on fire, according to court records. The cousins then went to a Philadelphia cheesesteak shop for dinner, the records say.
The next afternoon, Kratz told police, the cousins returned to the farm and DiNardo buried the bodies with the backhoe, according to court records.
Kratz allegedly confessed and showed police where he hid the two guns used in the homicides, police say.
Kratz’s trial is unlikely to start until 2019, Weintraub said.
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