Cosmo DiNardo and Sean Kratz, two cousins charged in the brutal murder of four men in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in July entered not guilty pleas during their arraignment on Thursday.
The 20-year-old men face charges of criminal homicide, abuse of corpse, robbery and conspiracy after the shooting deaths of 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro, 22-year-old Mark Sturgis, 21-year-old Tom Meo and 19-year-old Jimi Patrick, whose bodies were found buried on a Solebury, Pennsylvania, farm after a five-day search in July.
According to a press release from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, DiNardo faces four counts of criminal homicide in the deaths of Patrick, Finocchiaro, Meo and Sturgis, while Kratz has only been charged in the deaths of Finocchiaro, Meo and Sturgis.
Both men remain imprisoned without bail. DiNardo is being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility, while Kratz is at the Northampton County Prison.
DiNardo confessed to killing the four men as part of a plea deal in July that would allow him to avoid the death penalty. Kratz did not agree to a plea deal.
Prosecutors said that DiNardo’s not guilty plea on Thursday was a procedural decision that would afford him the option to stop cooperating with the investigation in order to maintain his innocence, according to Philadelphia ABC affiliate WPVI. He is still cooperating with police, WPVI said.
Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub filed paperwork this week reserving the right to seek the death penalty against the young men. While Weintraub maintained that he will honor the deal struck between him and DiNardo to avoid the death penalty, he said, “if additional evidence is uncovered, or if he wishes to go to trial, we will be prepared and we will at that time seek the death penalty.”
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SOURCE: ABC News, Briana Montalvo
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