Sean Kratz Sentenced To Life In Prison Without Parole After Bucks County Prosecutors Take Death Penalty Off Table

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — Convicted murderer Sean Kratz was sentenced to life in prison without parole after Bucks County prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. The 22-year-old was found guilty in the 2017 murders of three young men on a farm in Solebury Township.

The jury on Friday convicted Kratz of first- and second-degree murder in the death of Dean Finocchiaro and voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of Tom Meo and Mark Sturgis.

Kratz also got an additional 18 to 36 years for the other killings and crimes.

"He was an utter and miserable failure. The defendant had so many opportunities not only to extricate himself from this awful, heinous, diabolical plan to snuff the life of three boys he didn't even know, he could've saved them, but he chose to think only of himself," Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said during a press conference following the sentencing.

Dozens of loved ones of the three men killed two years ago packed into the Bucks County courtroom on Monday morning to learn of Kratz's fate. The victims' families told the court how their lives changed since the killings.

"Everything you, Kratz, took, is exactly what you no longer have the right to receive," Meo's mother, Melissa Meo, said. "You call your cousin a monster. Yes, he's a sick monster but you're an evil monster."

Kratz never apologized to the victims' families.

Prosecutors say Kratz and his cousin, Cosmo DiNardo, shot and killed the men on a farm in Solebury Township, near New Hope, in 2017.

At the start of the trial, prosecutors wanted the death penalty for Kratz. But in a surprise move on Monday morning, they took it off the table after meeting with victims' families, indicating the death penalty could result in unwanted attention.

"He will not become a political football. He will not become a caused celeb. He will go down in history as an afterthought," Weintraub said.

Weintraub added Kratz told people on prison phone calls he wanted to get the death penalty so he can become notorious.

"He doesn't get to be notorious, he will forever remain anonymous," Weintraub said.

Kratz's defense attorney, Charles Peruto, says he will fight for an appeal.

"I'm glad he got life in prison and not the death penalty, obviously," Peruto said.

Kratz backed out of a plea deal at the last minute.

DiNardo is serving a life sentence.

CBS3's Matt Petrillo contributed to this report.

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