BANGOR, Maine A prison inmate who described himself as a friend of one of the two men on trial for the murder of three people refused to testify Monday at the Penobscot Judicial Center. He said he was afraid of retribution if he told the court what he knew.

Nicholas Sexton, 33, of Warwick, Rhode Island, and Randall Ricky Daluz, 36, of Brockton, Massachusetts, are both charged with three counts of murder and one count of arson in the August 2012 crime. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Alfred Lanpher, 44, said Sexton was his friend and gave him a nod when he entered the courtroom. When Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese, who is prosecuting the case with Assistant Attorney General Deb Cashman, asked him questions about the murder case, Lanpher declined to answer.

I already advised this lawyer here that Im not going to testify, Lanpher said, indicating attorney William Bart, who was sitting beside him in the courtroom.

Bart did not address the court.

I dont want to testify here because I am going to spend the next three years in jail, Lanpher later said on the stand.

Lanpher of Mount Desert Island is serving a 4-year sentence at the Maine State Prison in Warren for assaulting a Southwest Harbor police officer in 2012.

Marchese asked if he was afraid of retribution for being a rat. Lanpher replied, yeah.

Lanpher did say on the stand that he was using illegal drugs around the time of the three murders and when he testified in front of the Penobscot County grand jury shortly afterward.

Marchese asked the judge to force Lanpher to testify or to allow the prosecution to use the testimony he gave the grand jury shortly after police found the bullet-riddled and charred bodies of Nicolle A. Lugdon, 24, of Eddington, Daniel T. Borders, 26, of Hermon and Lucas A. Tuscano, 28, of Bradford inside a rental car that was discovered on fire in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, 2012.

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Im not going to testify: Witness pleads Fifth Amendment during Bangor triple murder trial