Jury fails to reach verdict in Kratz case
Families grow frustrated as tensions boil over
Tensions boiled over in a Bucks County courtroom Thursday after the jury deciding the fate of Sean Kratz, accused of killing three men who were found buried on a Solebury Township farm in 2017, failed to reach a verdict after two days of deliberations, frustrating the victims’ families.
As the jury left the courtroom, a young man who had been sitting in the area reserved for families walked to the front of the courtroom, yelled a profanity and told Kratz that he should “burn in hell.”
The man quickly walked out of the courtroom and was followed by deputies. It was unclear if the jury heard the outburst.
Jurors will return to the Bucks County Justice Center in Doylestown on Friday morning to continue deliberations. If they find Kratz guilty of first-degree murder, a penalty phase will begin with jurors choosing between life in prison or death for the 22-year-old Philadelphia man.
On Thursday morning, jurors asked to rewatch a video of Kratz confessing to detectives in the hopes of striking a plea deal to third-degree murder.
Kratz’s attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr., had implored the jury in his closing summation to ask to see the video again, saying it showed that Kratz was motivated by fear of his “lunatic” cousin, Cosmo DiNardo, into taking part in the July 7, 2017, killings.
In the 90-minute video, Kratz was accompanied by his then court-appointed lawyer, Craig Penglase. Penglase was later thrown off the case after leaking audio of DiNardo’s confession to a Philadelphia television station just before Kratz changed his mind and demanded a trial.
Peruto told the jury that Penglase coerced Kratz into confessing so Penglase could gain points with the district attorney’s office.
In the video, Kratz described shooting 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro, telling detectives that DiNardo initially instructed him to take Finocchiaro into the woods on an all-terrain vehicle and shoot him there. Kratz told the detectives that he couldn’t do it. Later, though, under DiNardo’s instruction, Kratz said he killed Finocchiaro in a barn on the property.
Kratz is charged with homicide, robbery, abuse of corpse and other crimes in the killings of Finocchiaro, of Middletown Township, Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township, and Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg.
DiNardo previously pleaded guilty to killing the men with Kratz, and shooting 19-year-old Jimi Patrick of Newtown Township earlier in the week. After striking a deal to avoid the death penalty, he is serving four consecutive life sentences.
Peruto argued that a verdict of manslaughter, if not acquittal, is fair for Kratz.
Jurors also asked Thursday morning to review a timeline of events submitted by prosecutors.
During the five-day trial, prosecutors described the frantic search for the men, who went missing after arriving at the farm to buy marijuana from DiNardo. Using cellphone data, investigators traced the men to the farm on Lower York Road, one of several properties owned by DiNardo’s family.
As the victims’ families wept in the courtroom, prosecutors projected gruesome photos of the men’s bodies on a large screen. Detectives testified about the painstaking process of unearthing the bodies from the 14-foot pit DiNardo had dug with a backhoe. And the men’s parents described sleepless nights, standing behind a barricade erected to shield them from the grave.
Jurors also saw two videos of Kratz being interrogated by police. They asked to rewatch a portion of the first video Wednesday. It showed Kratz, then 20, asking for his mother after hours of being questioned by detectives.
After his mother urged him to cooperate, he led detectives to the murder weapon.
Peruto called just three witnesses before resting after less than an hour. Peruto put most of his energy into theatrical opening and closing statements in which he promised that DiNardo would take the stand and deliver earth-shaking testimony to clear Kratz.
When the prosecution revealed that DiNardo had defied their subpoena and refused to travel from the state prison where he’s being held to Doylestown, Peruto complained bitterly that he’d been robbed of the chance to crossexamine the quadruple murderer.
Prosecutors countered that Peruto made no attempt to subpoena DiNardo. By law, prisoners are not required to comply with any subpoena unless it is issued by a judge.