To Think... It's Already Been a Year...

One year ago this weekend, Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes flew out to San Diego to visit with Sean Lockhart and Grant Roy (they stayed at the Marriott, visited the Zoo, etc...). Little did Harlow and Joe know that their every word was being recorded while visiting Black's Beach. (and possibly elsewhere as well).

As an handjtrial anniversary special, I offer you my own personal top ten favorite quotes from the BBT's... (think David Letterman):

#10: DEA AGENT ANDREW PAPPAS: "Well last time we did it, we didn't get the recording. It doesn't hurt to hit the red one twice, right?"

#9: SEAN LOCKHART: "My stomach hurts."

#8: JOSEPH KEREKES: "Baby, remember, if you build up any speed, you're not gonna be able to stop, and you don't wanna get dirty or scratched, alright?"

#7: HARLOW CUADRA: "Well if you guys wanna take care of Cobra once and for all, I mean, I don't think there's a real hurry on it, unless he had a copy of all that paperwork at his lawyer's office, it's all gone."

#6: HARLOW CUADRA: "Umm, and ah, I said well, I saw all I needed to see, I was gonna keep one of them and give it to you as a gift. I was like, nah, it's too hot right now, let me just get rid of it, and ah, he also gave me a couple of items that are disintegrated now also. Ah, he had a Rolex, ah BCK and, and well it's gone."

#5: JOSEPH KEREKES: "Oh tell him about the brand new, he just got it in two days ago, sixty-five inch plasma TV..."

#4: HARLOW CUADRA: "Oh yea, yes, he knew who I was alright, I didn't, check this out... check this out, (inaudible) his fuckin phone rang, he goes ya know what, you remind me of something, of someone and he smiled and I was like ahhh, I don't know, I put my head down, like fuck, and then he smiled at me like ya know, I know who you fucking are, ya know what I mean, and ya know he had his hand on my dick, and ah he answers the phone and then right then ya know my dude comes around, ah hold on, and ah, he knew who the fuck I was, it was crazy, so I mean that whole thing about the escort thing, I think if the guy was (inaudible)".

#3: HARLOW CUADRA: "Yea, yea, I don't think that, honestly like thinking now, I don't think that if we all would have just sat back and you would have done it the legal way, I don't think it would have turned out the way you wanted, honestly. It sounded like they had everything lined up".

#2: JOSEPH KEREKES: "Very respectful, I mean very, I mean Barry never had to shut anybody up, and the interview went on for almost three hours, Harlow did really good, made it very entertaining, ya know, and Barry never shut him up. You know Barry's a client right?"

and Number One...

#1: HARLOW CUADRA: "Oh, no problem. Umm, actually seeing that fucker going down actually it's sick but it made me feel better inside. It almost felt like I got revenge and I know that sounds fucked up, really fucked up but I still couldn't sleep for a week, I had dark circles under my eyes, Xanax, Ambien, you name it, I was taking that shit but umm, he ya know... Like I told ya, it's all over with man, you done climbed that mountain. I know..."

So what are yours?

Where Do We Go Now?

As most of you already know... Harlow Cuadra has decided to appeal Judge Peter Paul Olzewski's ruling to remove attorney Demetrius Fannick as Harlow's paid counsel.

Ever since the appeal was filed... there's been lots of speculation as to what happens next: I've seen reports stating that there will be no changes... Harlow and Joe will be tried seperately... and others claiming that it could delay the trial for a year.

Hopefully we'll know something after the hearing on April 30, 2008.

Update: The prosecution filed a new witness list today... it's down to 97... I'll revise the list shortly.

Strike 1 for the Prosecution?

In a previous post, blogger "BB" asked a question about the cameras that were stolen from Bryan's house: "talking about nutcases, one of them is claiming that in court last week it was revealed that the stolen cameras can not be linked to Bryan. anyone got info on this claim?"

Yes... I'm told that there was some brief discussion about the cameras last week during Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes' hearing. The way I recall it, it was revealed that the cameras believed to have been stolen from Kocis had the serial numbers forcibly removed from them, making it impossible to POSITIVELY link them.

This was brought up during some argument on the habeas motion for Joe.

(Update: 04/25/2008):Fellow blogger DewayneinSD does an excellent job of explaining "Digital Fingerprints" in a post he did today.

Jailhouse Penpals...

Back in late February 2008, it was reported that the FBI had given handwritten letters, believed to have been authored by Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes, to the Luzerne County district attorney’s office.

Also in a breaking news article the day before... it was reported that: "Prosecutors want the two men accused of killing gay pornography producer Bryan Kocis to submit handwriting samples to the court to verify they wrote letters the FBI confiscated."

It appears that Judge Peter Paul Olszewski granted the prosecutions' request on April 17, 2008.

What's unfortunate about this evidence, is that it brings up more questions than answers (until trial):

1. When were the letters written?
2. Who were they sent to?
3. What did the letters contain?
4. How did the FBI get them?

While I don't have an exact answer to any of these questions... I'd like to provide a little of my own personal thoughts, opinions, and insights:

1. When were the letters written?... Since the letters were done in handwriting, I can only assume they must have been written after Harlow and Joe's incarceration. If these letters existed before then, I can't imagine it would take the FBI almost a year to hand them over to the DA's office... in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were written during the Fannick fiasco (December-January).

2. Who were they sent to?... Who know's really... but there's always that chance that Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes were trying to communicate with each other, since I don't think the jailhouse 3-ways worked for very long... if at all.

3. What did the letters contain?... Again... another who knows... but according to the prosecutions' motion: "The documents indicate that both defendants had written the letters which contain material information relative to the aforementioned case".

4. How did the FBI get them?... Now that's a question I'm sure we'd all like to know. The FBI doesn't normally have jurisdiction over mail, so I can only assume the letters were either handed over by a postal inspector, or found somewhere. Yet reading the news report that states they were "confiscated"... it really does make you wonder... confiscated from whom (Renee, Elm?), or where?

Some New Dates...

On Thursday, Judge Peter Paul Olszewski filed several orders in regards to the murder trial of Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes, 2 of them being new hearing dates:

1. A hearing has been scheduled for 07/08/08 (I'm assuming a status conference).

2. Pre-trial conference has been scheduled for 08/12/08.

It also appears that the judge has granted the prosecution's motion for handwriting exemplars. Harlow's attorneys also filed a few motions, and I'll try to have more information on that shortly.

Trial Date: A Heads Up

While we don't yet know what effect Harlow Cuadra's appeal will have on the current 'trial date' announced (there seems to be some uncertainty as to whether there will be a delay for none, one, or both of the cases), I did want to make one thing clear for those that are planning to attend:

September 2nd is technically not the day that Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes' trial will start. This is when jury selection will begin, and that selection process can easily take at least 5 days, sometimes 6 (based on previous capital cases in Luzerne County). So the actual trial itself probably won't begin until sometime between September 8th - 10th (assuming nothing changes).

... or as a source puts it: 'They write that the trial is set to start Sept. 2 because somewhere along the lines they apparently took it upon themselves to consider jury selection part of the trial process and lump it all in as the word "trial".'

Cuadra Appeals Fannick Ruling

The Times Leader is reporting that Harlow Cuadra has appealed a judge's ruling that forbid attorney Demetrius Fannick from representing him.

Cuadra filed notice Thursday that he will appeal Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr.'s ruling to the state Superior Court.

Olszewski disqualified Fannick from representing Cuadra because Fannick had met with co-defendant Joseph Kerekes before Fannick was hired to defend Cuadra. Prosecutors claimed that created a conflict.

It remains unclear whether the appeal will delay the start of trial. Pre-trial appeals often cause delays, however depending on the legal issue of the appeal, a delay might not occur.

It is also unclear if the appeal will impact the progress of Kerekes' trial.