WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - If prosecutors have their way, accused murderer Harlow Cuadra could get the death penalty.
Cuadra, 27, is charged with killing gay adult video producer Bryan Kocis in order to eliminate a rival in the industry. His trial began Tuesday, and the evidence and testimony in the case is looking grim.
Since then, 34 witnesses have testified about the murder and Cuadra's business relationships. According to some, Cuadra and his lover and business partner, Joseph Kerekes, 35, not only rented a vehicle and purchased weapons days before the murder, but also bought a detailed background report about Kocis in order to concoct lies that would get them into reclusive Kocis' home.
In addition, two witnesses told the court Cuadra and Kerekes ran a gay prostitution ring from at least 2005 until their arrest and imprisonment in 2008. Another witness claimed Cuadra and Kerekes were part of a much larger plot to eliminate Kocis from a civil lawsuit involving gay adult performer Brent Corrigan.
Kerekes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges in December and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He refused to testify against Cuadra, who continues to maintain his innocence.
According to police, Cuadra and Kerekes, both residents of Virginia Beach, Va., stabbed 44-year-old Kocis to death Jan. 24, 2007, inside the Cobra Video owner's Dallas Township, Pa., home. Kocis' charred remains were found among the incinerated ruins of the house the following day.
On Thursday, Kocis' best friend, Robert Wagner, testified that Cuadra devised an elaborate ruse to convince Kocis he was a new model with a desire to appear in Kocis' gay pornographic videos. Kocis bought the deception, which included email and photo exchanges.
The scheme, Wagner said, may have been part of a plot hatched by Cuadra and Kerekes in league with Corrigan and his business manager Grant Roy, with whom Kocis was on the verge of settling a contentious, year-long civil lawsuit.
"[Kocis] was about to do cartwheels because he was settling the civil lawsuit," Wagner told the court.
According to the prosecution, the settlement would have voided a contract between Corrigan and Cobra Video by requiring Corrigan and Roy to pay Kocis 20 percent of Corrigan's future earnings from performing in adult movies. Kerekes and Cuadra, prosecutors say, wanted Corrigan to work for them, and in order to ensure that, they were willing to kill.
The prosecution's hypothesis was supported on Tuesday by testimony from Andrew Joseph Shunk and Justin Hensley, former employees of Kerekes and his alleged partner in crime. The pair testified that their erstwhile employers owned a gay porn studio and a prostitution business from which they made $10,000 weekly. Clients included high-profile members of Congress and government contractors, according to the witnesses.
But Cuadra and Kerekes were not satisfied with that income, according to Shunk.
"Cuadra wanted to do pornography films with Sean Lockhart [whose stage name is Corrigan]," Shunk told the court. "[Cuadra and Kerekes] thought if they brought in Sean Lockhart, they would bring in six figures...and it would cause a youth phenomenon."
Shunk also told the court that during meetings at the January 2007 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo and subsequent conferences, Cuadra and Kerekes offered Corrigan $50,000 per scene.
Corrigan and Roy have said they were not involved in any plot to kill Kocis, even though they were at odds with the producer over Corrigan's exclusive contract with Cobra Video. Corrigan and Roy voluntarily wore surveillance equipment to meetings with Kerekes and Cuadra in order to assist the FBI in wiretapping private conversations that have been introduced as evidence during Cuadra's trial.
In the transcript from one April 2007 conversation, Cuadra said, "It was quick; he never saw it coming.... Actually seeing [Kocis] going down made me feel better inside."
On Tuesday, prosecutors introduced credit card records that show Cuadra rented a car the day before the murder and returned it the day after with more than 1,000 new miles on the odometer. Neighbors reported seeing the car in Kocis' driveway on the day the house burned.
In addition, Cuadra's credit card statement documented purchases at a Virginia Beach pawn shop four days before the murder. An employee of the shop testified she sold Cuadra and Kerekes a gun, bullets and a knife. Her testimony was corroborated by surveillance video from the shop's security system.
Defense attorneys say Cuadra may have been present when the plans for Kocis' death were laid, but their client didn't commit the murder.
"Harlow didn't do it," defense attorney Joseph D'Andrea said during his opening statement. "This young man didn't slash anyone's throat, stab him 28 times or set his house on fire. Joe [Kerekes] was the dominant partner. Joe was controlling and he controlled Harlow, both on the personal and professional side... Joe Kerekes cared about one thing, getting ahead, and that meant money...."
