Attorney Who Leaked Cosmo DiNardo, Sean Kratz Tapes To Be Reprimanded

The attorney at the center of Cosmo DiNardo and Sean Kratz’s leaked confession tapes will be publicly reprimanded.

Doylestown Borough-based attorney Craig Penglase agreed in late May along with the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania that he would be publicly reprimanded for his actions. The move will be handled further at a July 22 consent hearing.

In a petition agreed to by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and Penglase, the facts of the incident that rocked the Justice Center in 2018 following Sean Kratz unexpectedly backing out of a plea deal arraigned with prosecutors are made clear.

Kratz was accused of the summer 2017 killings of Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown; Thomas Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township; and Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg, Montgomery County, at the DiNardo’s family farm in Solebury. Penglase and attorney Niels Eriksen were appointed to represent him for the high-profile case.

In late April 2018, weeks before a scheduled court date, Kratz preliminarily agreed to a deal that would have put him away for 59 to 118 years. Following that preliminary deal, Kratz sat down and recorded an admission about the murders with Bucks County Detectives.

Penglase sat in on the recorded interview, according to a copy of the footage obtained by LevittownNow.com.

On April 26, Eriksen was provided a copy of the confession tape and it was released to Penglase on May 10.

According to the petition filed with the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Penglase then conducted an interview with NBC 10 reporter Deanna Durante and provided her recordings of police interviews with Kratz and DiNardo in advance of the court date. The recordings were not yet available for the public.

“[Penglase] talked to and provided the interviews to Ms. Durante without Mr. Kratz’s explicit permission, knowledge or consent but [Penglase] believed he had Mr. Kratz’s tacit consent and approval,” the filing reads.

On May 16, 2018, DiNardo entered a guilty plea, but Kratz shocked everyone and backed out of his.

The disciplinary filing notes that Eriksen noticed Penglase was texting as the unexpected move by Kratz was developing. He questioned what was happening and Penglase reportedly said he was contacting NBC 10 so an interview he did would not air.

While the pre-recorded interview with Penglase never aired, portions of the provided confession tapes did make it on air.

Word of the broadcast made its way through the Justice Center, blindsiding many involved in the case and reporters from numerous news organizations covering the story.

Eriksen, according to the filing, only learned of the confession tapes being leaked when a reporter asked him after they aired on TV.

After telling Eriksen that there was a “rumor that people in Philadelphia were passing around an email with the tapes attached to them,” Penglase fessed up the next day to releasing the tapes. He apologized to the judge in the case and stepped back as counsel for Kratz, according to the filing.

Penglase reportedly told Kratz that he “released the tapes to the media because [he] felt it was important to get [Mr. Kratz’s] side of the story out there.”

The filing states that Kratz felt betrayed by the attorney and that created “significant” trust issues.

The leak of the tapes, which became public record once Kratz’s trial wrapped up in late 2019, impacted trial strategy and created a number of “complex” issues, the filing notes.

Penglase agreed that he engaged in “misconduct” and violated the rules of professional conduct, was remorseful, and understands he should be disciplined.

The disciplinary office and Penglase both agreed the incident did not warrant the attorney’s law license being suspended and the offense was unlikely to reoccur.

Several Bucks County attorneys, including the president of the bar association, and a Hilltown Township detective, and a retired sheriff’s deputy supported Penglase during the disciplinary investigation. Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub; Deputy District Attorney Kate Kohler, who co-led the prosecution of Kratz; and Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Schorn also supported Penglase.

“My long standing relationship with Mr. Penglase makes me believe his actions in this matter were an aberration rather than a pattern,” Weintraub wrote in a letter of support.

Kohler called Penglase, an attorney since 2001, “ethical” and “upstanding.”

The letters of support, according to the filing, indicate that Penglase is well-respected in the local legal community.

“Respondent’s transgressions were significant in this case. But considering the mitigating factors, apparent aberrational nature of the misconduct, and the lack of aggravation, a public reprimand sufficiently serves to protect the public, preserve the integrity of the courts and deter future unethical conduct,” Office of Disciplinary Counsel attorney Thomas Farrell wrote.

Penglase declined comment for this article.

Kratz was found guilty at his 2019 trial and sentenced to life in prison.

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