Note: The following entries were blogged live and in real time. Therefore, some links still work, and some now redirect to later updates (at the behest of the media source). We strove to quote the relevant bits in each live entry, as it was presented.
Update: Times Leader (7:27 pm) - is reporting that two Virginia Beach, Va., men will face criminal homicide and related charges in connection to the slaying of local gay porn producer Bryan Kocis in Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.
District Judge James E. Tupper held the charges against Harlow Cuadra, 26, and Joseph Kerekes, 33, to court after a two day preliminary hearing.
Update: Citizens' Voice (6:58 pm) - reports that Testimony has concluded in the preliminary hearing to determine if Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes should stand trial for the murder of Bryan Charles Kocis.
Attorneys for both sides are preparing their closing statements.
Update: Times Leader (6:29 pm) - reports that signals from two cell phones registered to Joseph Kerekes were processed through a cellular tower on Country Club Road in Dallas Township, a short distance from the Midland Drive home of Bryan Kocis, state police Cpl. Leo Hannon Jr. said.
Hannon said the calls were made at 8:34 p.m. on Jan. 24, the exact same time firefighters were dispatched to Kocis' home for a fire.
Prosecutors are continuing to present testimony and evidence during the preliminary hearing for Kerekes, 33, and Harlow Cuadra, 26, who are accused in the killing of 44-year old Kocis.
Update: WNEP TV-16 (6:04 pm) - Live 6:00 pm news reports the preliminary hearing is still continuing.
Update: Citizens' Voice (5:47 pm) - reports that State police Cpl. Leo Hannon testified to obtaining receipts showing that Cuadra rented a gray Nissan Xterra in Virginia Beach the day before the murder.
... The vehicle was returned the day after the murder, according to the receipt.
The mileage used on the car was consistent with the distance between Virginia Beach and the Wilkes-Barre area, Hannon testified.
... Hannon [also] testified [that the knife Cuadra and Kerekes bought in Virginia Beach] ... was the type of knife that would be capable of committing Kocis' murder.
Update: Times Leader (5:27 pm) - reports Surveillance videos from a Virginia Beach, Va., pawn shop shows Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes allegedly buying weapons on Jan. 23, a day before Bryan Kocis was killed in Dallas Township.
In one of the videos, Cuadra, 26, and Kerekes, 33, are standing with their backs to the camera looking into a glass display case.
State police Cpl. Leo Hannon Jr. said a receipt - time stamped at 9:44 a.m. on Jan. 23 - was a Smith and Wesson handgun, ammunition and a folding knife with a five-inch blade.
Update: WNEP TV-16 (5:05 pm) - Live 5:00 pm news reports the preliminary hearing is still on-going. Will have a live report from the courthouse as soon as the hearing has ended.
Update: Times Leader (4:25 pm) is reporting that A state police computer forensic examiner said an e-mail registered to Joseph Kerekes was logged onto at 7:43 p.m. on Jan. 24, around the time when a witness saw a light colored sport utility vehicle in the driveway at Bryan Kocis' Dallas Township home.
Trooper Brian Murphy said the e-mail registered to Kerekes, 33, was accessed through a wireless air card registered to Harlow Cuadra.
Kerekes' co-defense lawyer, Joseph Nocito, was able to determine, upon questioning of Murphy, that Kerekes' e-mail was accessed at 7:43 p.m. on Jan. 24.
Kerekes, during a jailhouse interview in July, said he was at the Fox Ridge Inn motel in Plains Township using his e-mail account.
Update: Times Leader (3:58 pm) - reports that A Yahoo! e-mail account set up on Jan. 22 was solely used to communicate with Bryan Kocis, and was last used on Jan. 25, a day after Kocis was found dead inside his Dallas Township home, a state police computer forensic examiner testified.
Trooper Brian Murphy said the dmbottom.com e-mail was used up to three dozen times to communicate with Kocis between Jan. 22 and Jan. 24.
Murphy said he was also able to trace e-mail communications from dmbottom.com through an IP address using a wireless air card beginning on Jan. 23, a day before Kocis was killed.
Update: Citizens' Voice (3:40 pm) - adds that a state police investigator testified Kocis exchanged about three dozen emails from an account with an IP address registered to Cuadra.
Some of the emails included what appeared to be pictures of Cuadra, although the author of the emails identified himself as Danny Moilin.
Through the emails, Kocis and Danny made arrangements to meet the night of the murder, the investigator said. The last communication occurred around 7:15 p.m., about an hour before firefighters responded to a structure fire at Kocis' home and found him inside slashed and stabbed to death.
Police contend Cuadra and Kerekes wanted Kocis killed because he was a rival adult gay film producer and they wished to lure his most popular performer, Sean Lockhart, to their company.
Update: Citizens' Voice (3:15 pm) - reports Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes were in the home of Brian Charles Kocis the night the adult film producer was murdered, a prosecution witness testified during a preliminary hearing today.
Grant Roy, a fellow pornography producer, testified the two Virginia Beach men accused of killing the 44-year-old in January described the inside of Kocis' home and recounted details of hoon the testimony given by Grant Roy.
Update: Times Leader (2:31 pm) - reports that For 1 hour and 16 minutes, Grant Roy testified as a prosecution witness during the preliminary hearing for Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes.
Roy, the first witness to testify on the second day of the hearing, admitted that he knew a conversation he had with Cuadra and Kerekes was being electronically recorded by investigators.
Roy said Cuadra and Kerekes had indicated that authorities wouldn't take the investigation seriously because Kocis was gay.
"They felt...because he (Kocis) was gay, the Dallas Township Police Department would put it on the back burner," Roy testified.
Roy remained composed during his testimony, carefully answering questions from Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Michael Melnick, and defense lawyers Frank Nocito and William Ruzzo.
State police Trooper Brian Murphy, a computer forensic examiner, is currently testifying.
Update: From a court-watcher (2:01 pm) - "Defense lawyers are challenging prosecution's refusal to turn over the transcript from the beach conversation. Roy testified on cross-ex that he reviewed the transcript prior to taking the witness stand. Judge is taking a short break to review caselaw on the issue."
Times Leader (1:49 pm) - reports that Roy said Harlow Cuadra, 26, and Joseph Kerekes, 33, inspected Kocis' Midland Drive home before Cuadra arrived for a scheduled meeting with the 44-year old Kocis on Jan. 24.
"...they also made an observation that there was no peep hole in the door so the only way Bryan Kocis could see who was at the front door was to open the front door," Roy testified upon questions by Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Michael Melnick.
Roy said Cuadra claimed he shared a bottle of wine with Kocis. The doorbell rang and Kocis stumbled, Roy said.
"(Cuadra) said he (Kocis) never saw it coming," Roy said.
Roy remains on the witness stand currently being questioned by Kerekes' lawyers, Frank Nocito and Joseph Nocito.
- Both PC and KM contributed to this report.
