Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania- The trial of two men accused of killing a gay porn producer they saw as a competitor could last for several months and contain lurid details of how the seamy underbelly of gay life operates.
Joseph Kerekes and Harlow Cuadra (pictured) are accused of killing Bryan Kocis, the owner of Cobra Video in 2006.
The prosecution is seeking the death penalty. The trial is set to begin in September, but the case already has bogged down in legal motions and the judge now has ordered a three week delay after the attorney for Kerekes and the lawyer for Cuadra said they have a potential conflict of interest. Both are associated with the same law practice and the two accused have opted for separate defenses.
Each of the accused will be assigned a new lawyer.
So far the two accused have had 13 lawyers representing them. A 14th was disqualified by the judge.
Even when the trial begins the prosecution alone has indicated it may call more than 30 witnesses. Over 35 prosecution subpoenas have already been issued.
Among the expected witnesses is porn star Sean Lockhart. Lockhart was under contract to Kocis and Kerekes and Cuadra wanted him for their own company.
When Kerkes and Cuadra became suspects in the murder police began taping their conversations. Another adult video producer, Grant Roy, was fitted with a recording device when he met with the pair and Lockhart at a California restaurant.
Court filings by the prosecution allege that the accused made incriminating statements on the tape. Defense attorneys want the recorded statements excluded at trial.
The prosecution also has filed with the court statements by Kerekes to a cellmate that he and Harlow Cuadra plotted to kill "a dude" in order to gain the movie rights to a porn star.
The papers submitted to the court allege that Kerekes told the cellmate that Cuadra stabbed Kocis 17 times and that together they slit his throat.
Kerekes is quoted as saying they then looted the rural home looking for the porn star's contract.
The court papers claim that Kerekes told the cellmate and other prisoners that there was so much blood they could not clean it up and decided to set the house on fire.
When Kocis' body was discovered by firefighters more than 80 percent of the body was covered by third-degree burns.
Homicide detectives were able to find Kocis' computer in the charred remains of the rural home and forensics scientists salvaged and reconstructed part of the hard drive.
On the hard drive they found a photograph of a man who was to have had an appointment with Kocis the night he was killed.
The picture came with the name "Drake" and police at the time said it could be a nickname or his last name.
Several days after the picture was released the Times Leader newspaper found a Virginia beach escort who said he was the subject of photograph that that it was a head shot that he uses for publicity purposes, that he had never heard of a "Drake" and that he was working in Virginia the night Kocis was killed. (story)
He declined at the time to give his last name but said his first name was Harlow.
It was then that police began collecting evidence on Cuadra. He and Kerekes, said to be his lover, were arrested in May without incident.
When the pair became suspects in the murder Virginia Beach police and the FBI began their own investigation into the men and started looking into their business.
Last July Cuadra and Kerekes were charged in Virginia with racketeering, conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to receive money from the earnings of prostitution.
The pair made a plea agreement in which they pleaded no contest and allowed police in Virginia to seize their assets.
