Cosmo DiNardo Refuses Bus Ride To Testify At Cousin's Trial

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Cosmo DiNardo, expected to take the stand to testify in the trial of his cousin, Sean Kratz, rejected a subpoena and refused a bus ride to court Friday, multiple sources said.

Lawyers had previously indicated DiNardo, who is serving a life sentence for four grisly murders on his family's Solebury Township farm in July 2017, would take the stand during the trial.

However, prosecutors said DiNardo rejected their subpoena and would not get on a bus waiting to bring him from SCI Retreat to Doylestown, the Inquirer reported.

It is not clear how the prosecution plans to respond to DiNardo's refusal.

Kratz, who rejected a plea deal, is charged in connection with the deaths of Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown Township, Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township, and Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg. DiNardo also confessed to killing Jimi Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township.

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The trial opened Wednesday in Bucks County court, where Kratz's lawyer gave an opening statement in which he reportedly called his client an "idiot" with a low IQ who was forced by his "lunatic" cousin to witness the crime spree.

Kratz, now 22, was "preyed upon by a psychopath," lawyer A. Charles Peruto said, according to multiple reports.

However, prosecutors with the Bucks County District Attorney's office countered by saying Kratz was on a mission to "kill, rob, burn, and bury bodies" during the July 2017 murders in Solebury Township.

The slayings were connected to three separate drug transactions, authorities have said, and were carried out over the span of three days. Not all of the victims knew each other, but all were acquaintances with DiNardo.

Authorities say the victims were killed in three separate shootings, all of which took place on DiNardo's family's 90-acre farm on Lower York Road.