Cuadra Jury Deadlocked Before Discussing Death Penalty

Updated 03/18/09 @ 6:23 AM

The Citizens' Voice is reporting that Eight jurors put the knife in Harlow Cuadra’s hands.

Four couldn’t.

Because the jury could not unanimously decide whether Cuadra was the killer or the accomplice in Bryan Kocis’ murder, Cuadra was spared the death penalty Monday, two jurors of his homicide trial said Tuesday.

“No one knows who did the actual deed of slashing the man’s throat,” said Ellen Matulis, a grandmother and homemaker from Jenkins Township who served as Juror No. 1.

She was among the four jurors who believed Cuadra could’ve been the accomplice of Joseph Kerekes, Cuadra’s lover and business partner who previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the Kocis homicide.

A day after the jury deadlocked in the penalty phase of Cuadra’s homicide trial, Matulis and another juror spoke with The Citizens’ Voice about the sensational case and their deliberations as Cuadra’s life hung in the balance.

“I’d be a liar if I said voices weren’t raised. Obviously, if you got people who want a death penalty, it gets tense,” she said. “We carried a person’s life in our hands.”

Jurors deliberated in the penalty phase of Cuadra’s murder trial for nearly six hours Monday before telling Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. they were deadlocked on whether prosecutors proved an aggravating circumstance that would make Cuadra eligible for the death penalty. Olszewski then sentenced Cuadra to life in prison. The same jury on Thursday found Cuadra guilty of first-degree murder. In Pennsylvania, a defendant is guilty of the charge even if he was an accomplice.

Prosecutors alleged Cuadra was Kocis’ killer. They said he the one who slashed Kocis’ throat and stabbed him dozens of times inside his Dallas Township, home before setting the residence ablaze. Prosecutors said Cuadra and Kerekes conspired to kill Kocis, a rival gay pornography producer. At trial, the defense tried to pin the killing on Kerekes.

Images presented as evidence by the prosecution about the brutal murder will be seared in jurors’ minds forever, Matulis said.

“The shock of actually seeing some of this, it was mind boggling — seeing a burnt corpse, a heart cut with stab wounds …” Matulis said. “My life was changed and I wasn’t the criminal.”

Matulis and fellow juror Daniel Austin said the person who sealed Cuadra’s fate was Cuadra himself when he took the witness stand.

“He shot himself in the foot with the different lies,” said Austin, 58, a retired postal worker from Harveys Lake. “In my eyes, Harlow definitely was the one who did the actual killing.”

“He placed himself in the house, he described it. All reasonable doubt, as far as him being an accomplice, went out the window when he opened his mouth,” Matulis added.

Both jurors said the jury never even got to the point where it deliberated whether Cuadra should live or die. The panel failed to agree that there was an aggravating circumstance that would make Cuadra eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors argued there were two aggravating circumstances — that the murder occurred during the commission of a felony, the robbery of Kocis, and a fire set to Kocis’ home put fire crews at great risk. Jurors rejected the fire argument. Olszewski told jurors the aggravated circumstance of robbery could only be applied against Cuadra if they believed he was the killer. The jury deadlocked in this regard.

Had the jury found an aggravating circumstance, they would have weighed it against mitigating circumstances offered by the defense, such as sexual abuse Cuadra endured and his service in the Navy.

Austin said he thought prosecutors proved an aggravating circumstance, but doesn’t think he would’ve voted for the death penalty.

“You could see his family was dysfunctional. He did serve his country. With that in my mind, I was learning towards life anyway. But we never got that far. He got life in prison. I could live with that. In my opinion, I’d rather be dead than sitting in a prison cell for the next 50, 60 years,” Austin said.

Matulis agreed.

“I think the outcome of the trial worked out. I’m content with it. He’s not a free man. He’ll never be a free man,” Matulis said.

What Joe was 'Supposed' to Say...

According to the Citizens' Voice... throughout the trial, Harlow Cuadra’s defense attorneys said he was controlled by his domineering lover and business partner Joseph Kerekes. They say Kerekes was in control again last week when he promised to testify Cuadra was innocent of Bryan Kocis’ murder, then took the stand and refused, delivering a giant blow to Cuadra’s defense.

With the gag order lifted after Cuadra’s sensational murder case ended Monday, one of his attorneys for the first time publicly detailed how the defense was duped by Kerekes in an unexpected case-shifting move.

Up until five minutes before he took the stand, Kerekes had promised to testify Cuadra was unaware of the murder plot, “had nothing to do with it” and planned to detail to the jury how the homicide occurred, said attorney Joseph D’Andrea, who defended Cuadra along with attorney Paul J. Walker.

“We were taken aback,” D’Andrea said. “It again showed Joseph Kerekes trying to control Harlow Cuadra’s life. Joe Kerekes controlled Harlow for one last time.”

Without Kerekes’ testimony, it was up to Cuadra to convince a jury he was innocent. But when he took the stand on his own behalf, he “did more harm than good,” D’Andrea noted.

“He wasn’t the best witness. We were hoping he would have been more cooperative, not as combative. But your life is on the line and it’s difficult to be calm,” he said.

Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Michael Melnick, the lead prosecutor, called Cuadra “his own worst enemy” on the stand.

“I think he did very poorly — contradictory and utterly inconsistent,” Melnick said.

Melnick said the defense erred by thinking it could place any faith in Kerekes, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Kocis’ death in December and agreed to serve life in prison. The prosecution didn’t even consider calling Kerekes as a witness against Cuadra because the case was strong enough without his testimony, plus he could do something unpredictable, as the defense experienced, Melnick said.

“What happened to attorney D’Andrea came as no surprise to us, but that became his problem, not ours,” Melnick said. “The last thing I wanted was Kerekes as a witness on my side.”

In his plea agreement, Kerekes pinned the murder on Cuadra, and “would have had to take the stand and point-blank commit perjury” if he testified Cuadra was innocent, Melnick said.

D’Andrea said he met with Kerekes several times, including at the Luzerne County Courthouse minutes before taking the stand. Kerekes assured he was “going to testify on Harlow’s behalf to exonerate him,” D’Andrea said.

Kerekes then took the stand, refused to testify and said, “I’ve been thinking a lot about my parents, and it would destroy them if I said something that I didn’t do.”

“Somehow, in that five-minute period, something or someone got to him. He changed his mind,” D’Andrea said.

Harlow Cuadra... Life without Parole (x2)

The Citizens' Voice reports that their arms interlocked and tears rolled down their face as the family of Bryan Kocis, who sat through countless hours of hearings related to his murder, stood Monday within an arm’s reach of the man guilty of killing their brother and son.

“I certainly hope that a day does not go by for the rest of your life that you do not remember the tragic, the grief, the pain, the endless pain that you have caused that family,” county Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said before sentencing Harlow Cuadra to two consecutive life sentences plus additional time for the murder of Kocis in January 2007.

Cuadra, 27, said nothing before Olsewski sentenced him. He wiped tears from his face, but stood stoic, while his mother sobbed and muttered 50 feet behind him, seated on a courthouse bench.

Olszewski’s words were a formality, life in prison was the state-mandated sentence for first-degree homicide after the jury of eight men and four women couldn’t reach a unanimous decision about the death penalty. Shackled and handcuffed, Cuadra listened as Olszewski closed a more than two-year-long case for prosecutors, detectives and the Kocis family.

“My brother was my best friend and you’ll never have a clue what you took away from us,” Kocis’ sister Melody Bartusek told Cuadra.

Lead prosecutor Michael Melnick hugged Kocis’ mother after she fought through tears to tell Cuadra about her son.

“I hope you think every day of Bryan and the awful deed you did to him,” Joyce Kocis said.

Cuadra will be transported to a state correctional institution within 10 days to serve his life sentence.

“I’m not happy about the (life sentence),” Kocis’ father, Michael Kocis, told Olszewski. “My son is in a jar. We have him in ashes and I don’t see him walking around. What (Cuadra) did was unconscionable.”

Kocis, 44, was stabbed to death at his Dallas Township home before his house was set on fire. Kocis, a rival pornography producer, was killed by Cuadra and his former lover Joseph Kerekes, the jury decided, in order to help their burgeoning gay pornography business. They wanted to lure an actor from Kocis’ studio to their own in Virginia Beach, Va., prosecutors allege. Kerekes pleaded guilty in December to second-degree homicide and is serving a life sentence.

Kocis’ disfigured body and the wreckage left at his home from the Jan. 24, 2007, murder created a crime scene nearly impossible to sort through, Melnick said. He described how state troopers and detectives “literally crawled through debris” in bitter cold January temperatures to search for evidence. The investigation “went from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the coast of the Pacific,” including wire taps at a beach near San Diego, mining through countless computer records and forensic pathology studies, Melnick said.

“At that time, I wondered if we would ever see this day,” Melnick said, before effusing praise on investigators and fellow Assistant District Attorneys Shannon Crake and Allyson Kacmarski, his co-counsel on the case.

The same jury that convicted Cuadra on Thursday of first-degree homicide deliberated for about five-and-a-half hours Monday before telling Olszewski they could not reach a unanimous verdict. Jurors were given two aggravating factors to consider in the case — the arson and robbery charges. After three-and-a-half hours, the jury returned to the courtroom, explaining they had dismissed one of the two, but were at an impasse on the other. Olszewski instructed to try to reach a unanimous decision, but after two more hours of deliberating, they said they couldn’t.

Paul J. Walker, who along with Joseph D’Andrea represented Cuadra, told jurors during his closing argument that if they believe Cuadra was an accomplice in Kocis’ death, with Kerekes as the primary killer, they should disregard the robbery charge as an aggravating factor. Cuadra could have been convicted of first-degree homicide as an accomplice, according to Pennsylvania law — jurors didn’t specify if that was the case. Getting the death penalty is much more difficult for an accomplice, attorneys said.

D’Andrea said he believes the defense was able to convince the jury Cuadra was not the principal murderer.

“Academically, that sounds good, but in practical terms, he still was found guilty of a murder as an accomplice,” he said.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, Melnick said, because Cuadra was found guilty of first-degree homicide, but he thinks Cuadra slashed Kocis’ throat.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Harlow Cuadra killed Bryan Kocis,” he said.

Leaving the courthouse, Cuadra’s mother, Gladis Zaldivar, sobbed and had her family shield her as she walked down the basement hall toward the exit. She continually yelled, “My son is innocent!”

Moments earlier, she sat in a chair next to her son, alone in the courtroom with him. The judge, jury and attorneys had all left the crying mother to say goodbye to her son.

Downstairs in the courthouse rotunda, Kocis’ family hugged investigators and wiped away tears.

“We have been through hell,” Michael Kocis said. “It will never be over for us, but I’m just glad it has come to a close.”

Meanwhile, according to the Times Leader, a shackled Harlow Cuadra dropped his shoulders and leaned back when a Luzerne County judge on Monday sentenced him to two consecutive life terms in prison for the brutal killing of Bryan Kocis.

After he was sentenced, a teary-eyed Cuadra, 27, sat and stared at his mother, Gladis Zaldivar, in the gallery. The two mouthed “I love you” before Cuadra was handcuffed and escorted to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, where he will be kept until he is transferred to a state prison within the next 10 days.

He declined comment when he was taken from the courthouse.

The jury of eight men and four women that convicted Cuadra of first-degree murder was unable to reach a unanimous decision to impose the death penalty after nearly five hours of deliberating.

Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. was mandated under state law to sentence Cuadra to life in prison with no chance for parole. Cuadra was also sentenced to a second life term for conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, plus 8.6 years to 18.8 years on other charges.

Cuadra was found guilty by the jury on Thursday of killing Kocis, 44, inside Kocis’ residence in Dallas Township that was set ablaze.

Assistant district attorneys Michael Melnick, Shannon Crake and Allyson Kacmarski said Kocis died from a slash to his neck that nearly decapitated him and was stabbed 28 times before flames burned approximately 90 percent of his body.

“After this victim was killed, this defendant first stabbed the victim in and about the abdomen and chest 28 times,” Olszewski said during the sentencing hearing. “Above and beyond that, he set the house ablaze that resulted in a fire that burned the victim beyond recognition.”

Investigators said Kocis was killed because Cuadra and his lover, Joseph Kerekes, considered Kocis their main rival in the adult film production industry and wanted to work with adult film actor Sean Lockhart, who was a contract actor for Kocis’ company, Cobra Video.

Cuadra and Kerekes, 35, operated a male escorting business and an Internet-based gay pornography production company in Virginia Beach, Va.

Kerekes pleaded guilty in December to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

“It has been a long two years, two months,” Bryan’s father, Michael Kocis, said after Cuadra was sentenced. “We’re glad it has come to a conclusion. He was the best son we could ever have.”

Joyce Kocis, Bryan’s mother, tearfully said Melnick promised her two years ago that her son’s killer would be caught and convicted.

“I won’t use the word happy, because I don’t think we will ever be happy,” Michael said.

Cuadra was convicted of first-degree homicide, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, abuse of corpse, robbery, theft, tampering with evidence, two counts of arson and four conspiracy charges after a 12-day trial.

The jury began deliberating Cuadra’s punishment just before 11 a.m. Monday after Melnick and Cuadra’s co-defense lawyer Paul Walker presented closing arguments.

Melnick pushed for capital punishment, telling the jury Cuadra endangered firefighters and stole laptop computers, cameras and a Rolex watch from Kocis’ home.

The danger to firefighters battling the intense blaze at Kocis’ residence and the items stolen during a robbery were two aggravating factors prosecutors sought for the death penalty.

Walker told the jury Cuadra honorably served in the U.S. Navy before being discharged and grew up in a dysfunctional family. He said Cuadra’s natural father never wanted him and Cuadra was a model inmate while jailed at Lackawanna County Prison, where he translated religious services into Spanish for Hispanic inmates.

Walker repeated during his closing argument as he had during trial that Kerekes was the more dominant person in the relationship with Cuadra.

“Kerekes got him out of the Navy, Kerekes got him in escorting … Kerekes controlled (Cuadra’s) credit cards and driver’s license,” Walker said.

During the trial, Walker and co-defense lawyer Joseph D’Andrea shifted blame to Kerekes, who they say actually killed Kocis.
---
Additional Articles:

Emotional lead prosecutor lauds all who aided conviction

Defense: Cuadra testimony more harmful than helpful

Harlow Cuadra's Trial... Penalty Phase Day 2

Verdict: Life Without Parole

7:35 PM: I can now confirm that Harlow's official sentence is as follows:

Life w/o Parole for first-degree murder
Life w/o Parole for criminal conspiracy engaging
20 Years for the rest
1 Year probation.

Meanwhile... a reliable source just told me... 'all of those sentences are consecutive, not concurrent. essentially, he'd need two lives and then some to serve his sentences'.

4:52 PM: According to the Citizens' Voice, Harlow Cuadra will serve life in prison, after the jury of eight men and four women could not reach a unanimous decision whether prosecution presented any aggravating factors worthy of the death penalty.

The same jury that convicted Cuadra Thursday of first-degree homicide for Bryan Kocis' January 2007 murder at his Dallas Township reached an impasse today. The jury deliberated for about five and a half hours before telling count Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. they could not reach a unanimous verdict despite being given more time by the judge.

The jury returned to the courtroom around 2:30 to tell Olszewski they agreed one of the factors wasn't valid, but had reach an impasse on the other.

Olszewski instructed jurors to try and reach a unanimous decision. The jury foreman didn't specify which of the two aggravating factors they were undecided.

4:50 PM: The Times Leader is reporting that a Luzerne County jury has decided Harlow Cuadra will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The jury came to a unanimous decision of life in prison without the possibility parole.

4:49 PM:Life without Parole.

2:57 PM: Meanwhile, the Citizens' Voice is reporting that jurors will continue deliberations after telling county Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. they are at an impasse over one of the two aggravating factors.

The jury foreman said the jury unanimously agrees that one of the two aggravating factors is not valid in the case, but is at an impasse on the other.

Olszewski told jurors to return to its chambers to continue deliberations and to try and reach a unanimous decision.

If jurors find one aggravating factor, they will have to weigh it against mitigating circumstances.

2:55 PM: According to the Times Leader, the Luzerne County jury will continue to deliberate the fate of Harlow Cuadra's future after it advised the judge they couldn't reach an unanimous decision.

The jury foreman told Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. that there was confusion on one of the two aggravating circumstances, which are robbery and endangering firefighters.

Olszewski advised the jury to continue to deliberate. If the jury is unable to reach an unanimous decision, Olszewski will be mandated under the law to sentence Cuadra to life in prison.

The same jury deliberating Cuadra's fate convicted him last week in the killing of Bryan Kocis, 44, in Dallas Township in January 2007.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Melnick said Cuadra set Kocis' home on fire, which endangered firefighters, and stole items from the home in a robbery.

2:30 PM: The jury is back.

1:16 PM: Sources tell me that the jury is still deliberating. I'm a little surprised it's taking this long.

12:35 PM: A court watcher tells me that Harlow looked pretty down today. More than during the trial. His mother is a wreck, but can't really say if Harlow's any more upbeat or depressed than last week. He was only in court for a couple hours this morning.

12:19 PM: Sources tell me that the jury continues to deliberate. I can't imagine it's going to be too much longer.

11:24 AM: The Citizens' Voice reports that Harlow Cuadra's fate is in the hands of the jury, who will decide if he deserves death for the murder of Bryan Kocis.

Jurors left the courtroom at 11:04 a.m. to weigh two aggravating factors connected to the murder-- the robbery, a felony, and arson charges, which risked firefighters lives -- against mitigating circumstances presented by Cuadra's attorneys.

Cuadra was convicted Thursday of first-degree homicide by the same jury for the Jan. 24, 2007, murder and arson at Kocis' Dallas Township home.

Lead prosecutor Michael Melnick showed jurors prosecution evidence during closing arguments. He showed the knife that likely killed Kocis, and described how it slashed Kocis' neck and nearly decapitated him. He replayed wire-tapped conversations Cuadra had at a beach outside San Diego.

“Actually, seeing that (expletive) going down, actually it’s sick, but it made me feel better inside,” Cuadra said on the tape, referring to Kocis.

Melnick questioned Cuadra's service in the Navy, saying it shouldn't be considered as a mitigating circumstance. Cuadra was honorably discharged after serving nearly three years in the Navy, but it was shortly before the lead-up to the war in Iraq.

"Did the defendant, as he’s presenting, demonstrate selfless sacrifice or selfish indulgence?" Melnick asked.

"The appropriate sentence in this case is that of capital punishment," he said later.

Paul J. Walker, one of Cuadra's two attorneys, presented eight mitigating circumstances, including Cuadra's Naval service, sexual abuse he suffered as a child and the dysfunctional childhood he had, among others.

Cuadra's mother cried as Walker described the impoverished broken home of Cuadra's youth.

Walker challenged Melnick's assertion that Cuadra didn't honorably serve the Navy, calling it ridiculous. Cuadra was discharged because he openly admitted he was a homosexual. He was not scheduled to be deployed overseas when he was discharged, Walker told jurors.

“To suggest he had not served his country admirably is an insult to you and an insult to him,” he said.

Walker also told jurors that, by law, they cannot accept the burglary charge as an aggravating factor, if they believe Cuadra was an accomplice in the crime. In Pennsylvania, someone can be convicted of first-degree homicide as an accomplice. Cuadra's former partner and lover Joseph Kerekes pleaded guilty in December to second-degree homicide in the crime and is serving a life sentence. The law says the burglary charge, a felony, can be used as an aggravating circumstance if jurors believe Cuadra in fact slashed Kocis' throat and then robbed him. If Cuadra was an accomplice, it can't be considered, he said.

Walker also said that the fire, which prosecutors say endangered the lives of firefighters, shouldn't be considered. Risking the lives of others while committing a murder is used as an aggravating factor if it happens in the act of the killing. Kocis died of stab wounds, not the fire, Walker said.

"When a person is sentenced to life in prison, that is exactly what it means," Walker said. "Life is life in Pennsylvania...he will spend the rest of his time in prison."

11:02 AM: According to the Times Leader, the Luzerne County jury that convicted Harlow Cuadra last week in the brutal killing of Bryan Kocis will soon consider if he should spend the rest of his life in prison or be executed.

Prosecutors and Cuadra's lawyers gave closing arguments to the jury this morning.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Melnick said Cuadra deliberately killed Kocis and set his home Dallas Township home on fire that endangered firefighters. Several items were stolen from Kocis' home, Melnick said.

The danger to firefighters and the robbery are two aggravating circumstances for capital punishment.

Attorney Paul Walker pleaded with the jury to spare Cuadra's life, saying Cuadra was raised in a dysfunctional family and honorably served with the U.S. Navy.

As throughout the three week trial, Walker blamed Cuadra's lover, Joseph Kerekes, for the killing.

Walker said Kerekes convinced Cuadra to leave the Navy, held onto Cuadra's credit cards and driver's license, and controlled Cuadra's life.

The jury of eight men and four women will begin deliberating Cuadra's punishment once Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. is finished giving them instructions.

9:28 AM: While we await the first tidbits of news, I stumbled upon two additional articles in today's Times Leader: Defense not lacking for experience, and an op-ed by Ed Lewis called Truth trumps every word out of killer Cuadra.

7:53 AM: Closing arguments in the penalty phase are expected to begin today at 9:00 AM, then the jury will decide if Harlow Cuadra is given the death penalty, or life in prison without parole. Stay tuned for further updates throughout the day.

There's also an article about this in today's Times Leader: Cuadra may learn fate today.

Death Penalty... How Does Pennsylvania Law Work?

Harlow Cuadra was found guilty of first-degree murder last Thursday afternoon by a Luzerne County jury, and is now facing the possibility of getting the death penalty as his sentence. While a good portion of his penalty phase was held last Friday, closing arguments are expected to be heard Monday morning, and then it'll be up to the jury once again to decide. While we wait for the 'second verdict', I thought the information below might be helpful to some:

The death penalty may only be applied in cases where a defendant is found guilty of first degree murder. A separate hearing is held for the consideration of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. If at least one of the ten aggravating circumstances listed in the law and none of the eight mitigating factors are found to be present, the verdict must be death.

The next step is formal sentencing by the judge. Frequently, there is a delay between the sentence verdict and formal sentencing as post-trial motions are heard and considered. An automatic review of the case by the state Supreme Court follows sentencing. The court can either uphold the sentence or vacate for imposition of a life sentence.

If the Supreme Court affirms the sentence, the case goes to the Governor's Office where it is reviewed by appropriate legal counsel and, ultimately, by the Governor himself. Only the Governor may set the execution date, which is done through the signing of a document known as the Governor's Warrant. By law, all executions are carried out at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview.

Status of Capital Cases

The number of inmates with execution sentences held in the state correctional system continues to grow. For security purposes, all execution cases are assigned to administrative custody status and are housed in Restricted Housing Units (RHUs) at SCIs Graterford and Greene.

Prior to the creation of the Bureau of Correction (now the Department of Corrections) in 1953, capital cases were brought to Rockview, along with the Governor's Warrant, on the day of the execution. After the bureau came into existence, it became common practice for the persons sentenced to death to be transferred to state custody as soon as formal sentencing by the judge had taken place. Until 1971, these cases were held in maximum security status, usually at Eastern or Western Penitentiary and sometimes at Graterford, until the execution date. Early in 1971, Attorney General J. Shane Creamer ordered them released into general population since no warrants had been signed for a number of years. Due to the increasing number of capital cases and concerns about security, the bureau returned all capital cases to administrative custody status late in 1982.

In June 1997, the execution complex at SCI Rockview was moved outside of the facility's perimeter to a former field hospital. The building, which is located on prison grounds, was renovated into a maximum-security building which will house capital cases for a short period of time just prior to execution. The relocation will allow officials to prepare for and carry out executions without disrupting the day-to-day operation of SCI Rockview. The relocation also enhances the safety and security of witnesses because it doesn't require them to enter the facility to view an execution. There are three cells located within this complex. If an execution is imminent, the condemned will be housed in this area until the sentence is carried out.

Additional Resources:

- Death Penalty FAQ
- Visiting Rules

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Amid Drama, Mother’s Pleas Ring the Truest

Yet another interesting editorial by Mark Guydish in this Sunday's Times Leader...

Friday’s sentencing hearing to determine if Harlow Cuadra gets death or life in prison proved part cliché and part melodrama. After testimony that careened close to soap opera, it seemed appropriate to end with a cliff hanger. Tune in Monday!

There was the Lackawanna prison chaplain in black cloth and white Roman collar recounting the convicted killer’s transformation behind bars. Cuadra would attend Mass in jail, offer to give the readings in Spanish, and even recruited others to continue doing so after he leaves.

“Harlow has grown a great deal since he’s been in prison,” the chaplain said. “He’s dependable, responsible, and very, very respectful to everyone.”

Well, yeah, the skeptic may think, but he’s a boyish homosexual in lock-up. These sound like survival tactics.

There was the gay wanna-be lover who met Cuadra first as his paid “escort,” befriended him as they shared a love of cheesecakes, and then drove 4-1/2 hours one way just to spend an hour or two with the imprisoned Cuadra, bringing Harry Potter books and giving him money to buy things.

Harlow wove him a small cloth cross the man now wears around his neck. “This really means a lot to me,” he said. “I had lost my faith. Through him I got it back.” Was he infatuated with Harlow? The answer was no, but the skeptic notes that the infatuated never recognize their condition.

A son is a son

Cuadra’s half-sister offered testimony that sounded contradictory. His half-brother’s short stint on the stand seemed irrelevant, even though he had been the first sibling to find Harlow after years of separation, thanks to a search of the social-networking Web site MySpace.com.

Watch for the next big reality show: Siblings reunited through MySpace (or Facebook, or whatever site proves willing to go along with the scheme).

It was, of course, Harlow’s Mother Gladis who dominated the day. An immigrant from Honduras, she spoke through a translator, and the anti-immigration faction surely would argue that’s the problem: In America at least two decades and can’t plead for her son in English.

But a son is a son in any language, and when she cried, he cried. The defense attorney made her read a letter from Harlow’s stepfather in which the man wrote of Harlow’s “private parts.” The mother and son sobbed. She claimed she once found her husband fondling her sleeping son. “How can he do such a thing?” She sobbed.

How indeed? Yet the skeptic wonders – as Harlow himself did, if the mitigation expert who interviewed him is to be believed – how could the mother not know such molestation occurred for nearly a decade in her house?

That mitigation expert offered her own theory (after Harlow’s mother had left the room). Coming from a broken family and recurring hardship, Gladis had “an idealized image of romance,” as she went from one failed relationship to another “looking for a father” for her children.

The jury looked either unmoved or inscrutable. On Monday they will meet with the terrible weight of a death sentence in their hands.

It’s a decision Harlow’s mother claims she had already made once, refusing to have the abortion his father demanded. She used that fact in her final, passionate plea to the jury.

“Before he was born I fought for his life, and now I continue fighting so he can keep on living. It’s the only thing I can say to you. With my last drop of blood, I’ll keep on fighting.”

In a day of stereotypes, confusion and high drama, that note rang truest.

Harlow Cuadra's Trial... Penalty Phase Day 1 Overview

The Times Leader reports Joyce Kocis had to be helped from the witness stand after telling the Luzerne County jury about how generous her son, Bryan, was in the community.

“He was the type of person that did things for people,” a tearful Joyce said on Friday. “We heard stories after that happened about the generosity he would do.”

Her son was killed inside his Midland Drive, Dallas Township, home that was set ablaze on Jan. 24, 2007.

Two men from Virginia Beach, Va., Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes, were charged for Kocis’ murder.

Kerekes, 35, pleaded guilty in December to second-degree murder and is serving life in prison.

Cuadra, 27, was convicted by the jury on Thursday of first-degree murder and 11 other charges. The same jury is deciding whether Cuadra should be sentenced to life in prison without parole or be executed.

Kocis’ father, Michael Kocis, told the jury he hasn’t slept a full night in the last 26 months, and blames his son’s murder for his declining health.

“We were very close,” Michael said. “He was my hunting partner who saved my life when I had my heart attack.”

Michael told the jury that he taught Bryan how to drive a vehicle with a stick-shift transmission, and worked three jobs to put his son through college.

Bryan donated money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and to an unwed mother who couldn’t afford Christmas presents for her children, Michael said.

Bryan’s dream was to build a waterfront home at Ice Lakes in Rice Township where he owned property, Michael said, and open a restaurant.

“That was the type of person he was, very generous,” Michael said.

Michael said he felt like an “intruder” and cried when he stood alone in his son’s burned out home.

The jury was shown a Kocis family picture standing at the Empire State Building in New York City. Bryan took the family to New York in a limousine for the July 4th weekend in 2006.

“He showed us the best time of our lives,” Michael said. “I miss him dearly.”

Assistant district attorneys Michael Melnick, Shannon Crake and Allyson Kacmarski are attempting to convince the jury that Cuadra should receive the death penalty because he stole items from Kocis’ home during a robbery and set Kocis’ home on fire that endangered firefighters.

Computer equipment, two Sony digital cameras and a Rolex watch were missing from Kocis’ home.

Joyce and Michael testified to the emotional pain and grief they continue to endure since their son’s murder.

Melnick said firefighters had a difficult time extinguishing the blaze. Windows were busted and two holes were cut in the roof to ventilate the heat and smoke, Melnick said.

“The heat was terrible, we really didn’t have any visibility,” Dallas firefighter Michael James Hawk testified on Friday.

Hawk was part of three search teams that entered Kocis’ home because firefighters were told by neighbors the home was occupied and a vehicle was parked in the driveway.

Hawk said he crawled on his hands and knees up the stairs to search the second floor.

“Something happened to my equipment, my face mask,” Hawk told the jury. “All of a sudden, I started breathing in smoke, tasting smoke.”

“With the smoke and heat … there was a danger there,” Dallas firefighter Timothy Rismondo testified.

Rismondo said when Kocis’ body was found, firefighters believed he succumbed to the smoke.

Melnick said Kocis suffered a slashed neck that nearly decapitated him and 28 stab wounds.

Meanwhile, over at the Citizens' Voice... three parents testified Friday — two remembering a son lost to murder; the other begging jurors to spare her son’s life.

Testimony concluded Friday in the penalty phase of Harlow Cuadra’s capital homicide trial.

The jury of eight men and four women will hear closing arguments Monday before deciding if Cuadra deserves the death penalty for Bryan Kocis’ murder. Cuadra was found guilty Thursday of first-degree homicide and 11 other charges in Kocis’ Jan. 24, 2007, murder at Kocis’ Dallas Township home.

Kocis was a generous and caring son, his mother and father said. He donated to numerous charities, served as a deacon at his church and was an Eagle Scout. Kocis, 44, was his parents’ “first and only son,” a hunting buddy and devoted uncle to his niece and nephew, they said.

He “would drop everything to help me out,” Kocis’ father, Michael Kocis, said.

Cuadra killed Kocis, prosecutors say, because he was a rival producer of pornography. Cuadra and his former partner and lover Joseph Kerekes plotted to kill Kocis in order to lure a model to the gay pornography Web site they operated in Virginia Beach, Va.

Kocis had plans, his father said, to open up a restaurant at his lake property.

“He wanted to run the best restaurant in the Valley,” he said. “His goal was by 2008.”

That goal was cut short when Kocis’ life ended, his father said. In the time he was alive, Kocis went out of his way to help people, his father said.

One time, the elder Kocis remembered, his son knew of a single mother who couldn’t afford presents for her children at Christmas. He bundled several gifts and left it at the doorstep, never taking credit, Michael Kocis said.

“That’s just the way he was,” he said.

Michael Kocis gripped a handkerchief and stopped to cry several times as he testified.

“I’m going to try to get through this,” he told jurors before answering questions.

Kocis’ mother, Joyce, cried through her testimony, detailing the pain her son’s death caused. Kocis’ parents haven’t slept a full night in the 26 months since their son’s brutal stabbing death, they said. They’ve returned to Luzerne County Courthouse for countless hours of hearings related to the murder.

Cuadra’s mother, Gladis Zaldivar, testified in Spanish and a court worker translated her words for the jury. Wiping away tears, she had one last remark for jurors before finishing her testimony.

“Before he was born, I fought for his life,” she said looking at the jurors. “And I fight for his life now. That is all I can say.”

Cuadra wiped away tears as his mother testified.

The same jury that convicted Cuadra on Thursday, will have to weigh Friday’s testimony in determining if Cuadra deserves death. The prosecution’s two aggravating factors — the robbery and the arson charges against Cuadra in Kocis’ killing — have to be considered along with the defense’s mitigating circumstance. Four prosecution and nine defense witnesses testified Friday. In addition to Kocis’ parents, two firefighters testified about the blaze at Kocis’ Midland Drive home the night of his death. That arson, prosecutor’s allege, risked the lives of firefighters and should be considered as a reason to issue the death penalty.

Five family members, including his mother, testified on behalf of Cuadra, as did a friend. They recounted Cuadra’s childhood and how his stepfather sexually molested him for years.

Cuadra’s mother read a letter her former husband supposedly sent to Cuadra. Cuadra had joined the Navy when he was a teenager to get away from his stepfather. In the letter, which his mother accidentally found in 2000, Cuadra’s stepfather discussed sexual acts he wanted to perform on Cuadra. Cuadra’s mother divorced him after discovering what her husband was doing.

“It’s embarrassing,” she said sobbing. “I’m sorry … I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”

Cuadra left the Navy and hadn’t returned home for more than five years when his siblings found his MySpace Web site. Cuadra was afraid they would be ashamed because he was homosexual and worked in pornography, his older brother Jose Cuadra testified. But they were able to reunite in early 2007.

“We didn’t care about that,” Jose Cuadra said. “I was just happy to have my brother again.
---
The Times Leader also has an additional story about yesterday's hearing... an e-mail on the Web social networking site MySpace reunited Harlow Cuadra with his family after nearly five years of being separated.

Cuadra testified earlier in the week that he kept away from his relatives because he felt ashamed he’s gay. Once they were reunited, his family rallied to support him after his arrest for the murder of Bryan Kocis in Dallas Township more than two years ago.

They testified in Luzerne County Court on Friday trying to convince the jury to spare his life.

Cuadra, 27, of Virginia Beach, Va., was convicted by the jury on Thursday for killing Kocis, 44, inside Kocis’ residence on Jan. 24, 2007. The same jury that found him guilty of first degree murder and 11 other charges will determine if Cuadra should be sentenced to life in prison or be executed.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Melnick and Cuadra’s attorneys, Joseph D’Andrea and Paul Walker, are set to give closing arguments on Monday before the jury deliberates Cuadra’s future.

Cuadra’s mother, Gladis Zaldivar, and his sister, Melissa Zaldivar, 19, have attended every day of the trial including jury selection since Feb. 17. Since Monday, his brothers, Jose Cuadra, 28, and David Bizizuela, 16, have attended court proceedings. They all reside in Greenville, S.C.

Jose Cuadra and Bizizuela told the jury that they found Harlow on MySpace in early 2007, after not hearing from him since early 2002.

Bizizuela sent Harlow an e-mail and got a reply, “Sorry, I don’t know any 14-year olds.”

They were reunited after Jose sent Harlow an e-mail, Jose said.

“I found out in 2007 on MySpace that Harlow was involved in gay porn,” Jose testified. “I sent Harlow an e-mail to meet up.”

Harlow invited Joseph Kerekes, his lover and partner in a male escort business and production of gay pornographic Web based movies, to meet the family, Jose said.

“It was weird at first but he’s my brother. He was scared that we would reject him because he’s gay. He’s my brother,” Jose testified.

“I didn’t care about that, him being gay,” Bizizuela testified. “I was happy to get my brother back.”

Bizizuela said he last saw Harlow when he was 9 years old.

Jose told the jury about the financial hardship and troubled childhood they endured while residing in Florida. Jose said they resided in a tiny, windowless apartment, slept on the floor without a mattress and had only one ball to play with.

“We were living on welfare, living on food stamps; it was bad,” Jose said.

Their mother, Gladis, remarried in April 1995. Their stepfather provided financial support but wanted something in return, Walker said.

“(Stepfather) had a fixation with him, Harlow,” Jose said.

Jose said the stepfather would send him to the store so he could be alone with Harlow, who was sexually abused for about 10 years. Jose said he left home when he was 16 years old when the stepfather grabbed him.

Gladis Zaldivar, who needed an English interpreter for her testimony, told the jury that she caught her husband molesting Harlow. She immediately left him taking her children, but her husband begged her to forgive him.

After reading a letter her husband wrote to Harlow, who had enlisted in the U.S. Navy in January 2000, Gladis learned her husband continued to have feelings for Harlow.

Harlow last spoke to his mother in early 2002 and felt embarrassed when she found out he was gay. It would be five years until he next spoke to his family.

“You don’t know how much I missed you,” a crying Gladis told Harlow on Friday.

Melissa Zaldivar said the first time she saw Harlow after five years was at a court hearing in Virginia Beach, Va., after his arrest in May 2007 for Kocis’ murder.

“Harlow told us he was afraid we would reject him because he was in the pornography business and he was gay,” Melissa testified.

Melissa also recalled her childhood that she called “happy” until her mother and father divorced.

“My brother (David) and I were on MySpace and we went to search for him (Harlow),” Melissa said. “Jose logged on and sent Harlow an e-mail and he called.”

Karen Stanton, a civilian employee with the Department of the U.S. Navy, testified about Harlow’s military service.

Harlow signed a delayed enlistment contract on Aug. 26, 1999, and reported for duty on Jan. 13, 2000, Stanton said.

Harlow committed to serve eight years and was trained as a hospital corpsman. While stationed in Norfolk, Va., Harlow met Kerekes in an on-line chat room.

Kerekes, 35, convinced Harlow to leave the Navy and helped pay for an attorney to expedite the process.

Harlow requested to separate from the Navy due to being a homosexual, Stanton said.

She said Harlow was honorably discharged after serving two years, 11 months and eight days in the Navy.

"I don’t mean this in a bad way, but it is a straight man’s military," Harlow testified on Tuesday when he took the witness stand against his lawyers advice.

Harlow moved in with Kerekes and joined him running a male escort business. Escorting turned into producing gay pornographic films as a “hobby,” Harlow said, on the Internet.

Kerekes took over the Web site after it made several hundred dollars, Harlow said.

Investigators said Kocis was killed because Cuadra and Kerekes considered him their main rival in the adult film production industry, and wanted to work with adult film actor Sean Lockhart, who was a contract actor for Kocis’ company, Cobra Video.

Harlow Cuadra's Trial... Penalty Phase

4:34 PM: According to the Times Leader, convicted murderer Harlow Cuadra will have to wait until Monday if he will spend the rest of his life in prison or if he faces the death penalty.

Prosecutors presented five witnesses and Cuadra's attorneys called seven people to testify during the penalty phase of the trial.

Cuadra, 27, was convicted by the jury on Thursday of killing Bryan Kocis, 44, in January 2007. The same jury will consider if he should be sentenced to life in prison or be executed.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys will give closing arguments on Monday before the jury decides which sentence will be imposed upon Cuadra.

3:42 PM: The Citizens' Voice reports that testimony concluded this afternoon in the death penalty phase of Harlow Cuadra's capital homicide trial.

Attorneys will give closing arguments after a short break. Jurors will then decide if Cuadra deserves the death penalty for the Jan. 24, 2007 homicide of Bryan Kocis. Cuadra, 27, was convicted Thursday of first-degree homicide and 11 other charges.

Defense attorneys called nine witnesses, including Cuadra's family members and psychological experts who testified to his background.

Cuadra's mother testified for more than an hour on her son's behalf. She sobbed as she answered questions in Spanish and a court worker translated for the jury.

"Before he was born, I fought for his life," she said. "And I fight for his life now. That is all I can say."

Cuadra's older brother, Jose Cuadra, described the family's poverty when Harlow Cuadra was a child and how Harlow Cuadra was sexually molested by his stepfather when he was a child.

Prosecution concluded its testimony this morning after calling five witnesses.

Bryan Kocis' mother and father described their "caring" and "generous" son, and the pain in their lives since his murder.

Michael Kocis testified his son was his hunting buddy. Since his death, he hasn't had a full night of sleep in the past 26 months. Michael Kocis read his answers from a prepared sheet, but had to stop several times to wipe tears.

"I'm going to try and get through this," he told jurors before detailing how Bryan Kocis donated money to charities helping battered women and the United Way. His "first and only son" was an Eagle Scout and a deacon at his church, Michael Kocis said.

1:30 PM: The Times Leader reports that Harlow Cuadra was molested by his step father for several years as a child while living in Tampa and Miami, Fla,, his brother, Jose Cuadra Jr., said.

Jose Cuadra testified on his brother's behalf during the penalty phase of Cuadra's hearing on Friday.

Cuadra, 27, was convicted by a jury on Thursday for the brutal killing of Bryan Kocis, 44, in January 2007. The same jury that convicted him is now hearing testimony to determine if Cuadra should be sentenced to life in prison or be executed.

Jose Cuadra, 28, said he and Harlow had a rough childhood growing up in Miami. After their parents divorced, they stayed with their mother, Gladis, residing in a tiny, windowless apartment near Tampa.

"We were living on welfare, living on foodstamps, it was bad," Jose said. "We didn't having nothing. We only had one ball; we would both go out and play ball."

Jose said their mother dated, including a man in a gang, and eventually married. The man their mother married began molesting Harlow while he slept in the same bed with Jose.

Jose said the molestation forced him to leave the home when he was 16 years old. He said he lost touch with Harlow for several years.

Harlow was found when Jose and his younger sister and brother found him on the myspace.com networking Web site.

"We found out in 2007 on myspace that Harlow was involved in gay porn," Jose said. "He came over the house with Joe (Kerekes) in the spring (2007). It was a little wierd at first but he' s my brother. He was scared that we would reject him because he's gay."

Prosecutors are attempting to convince the jury that Cuadra should receive the death penalty because he stole items from Kocis' home during a robbery, and set Kocis' home on fire that endangered firefighters.

Cuadra's attorneys, Joseph D'Andrea and Paul Walker, are calling several family members of Cuadra to testify on his behalf.

After testimony concludes, Assistant District Attorney Michael Melnick and D'Andrea or Walker will present their arguments to the jury before they deliberate Cuadra's punishment.

11:14 AM: According to the Citizens' Voice, Bryan Kocis' mother and father could barely finish their sentences as they described their "caring" and "generous" son, and the pain in their lives since his murder Jan. 24, 2007.

Prosecution concluded its testimony this morning in the penalty phase of Harlow Cuadra's capital homicide trial after calling five witnesses. Cuadra was convicted Thursday of first-degree homicide in Kocis' death. Today the jury of eight men and four women will decide if Cuadra deserves the death penalty or life in prison.

Michael Kocis testified his son was his hunting buddy. Since his death, he hasn't had a full night of sleep in the past 26 months. Michael Kocis read his answers from a prepared sheet, but had to stop several times to wipe tears.

"I'm going to try and get through this," he told jurors before detailing how Bryan Kocis donated money to charities helping battered women and the United Way. His "first and only son" was an Eagle Scout and a deacon at his church, Michael Kocis said.

Defense has called three witnesses, including Cuadra's older brother Jose Cuadra. He described the family's poverty when Harlow Cuadra was a child and how Harlow Cuadra was sexually molested by his stepfather when he was a child.

Several more defense witnesses have to testify still, including Harlow Cuadra's mother and a psychologist.

9:16 AM: The Times Leader is reporting that the penalty phase for convicted murderer Harlow Cuadra has begun.

Prosecutors are presenting evidence that Cuadra, 27, should be executed for the brutal killing of Bryan Kocis, 44, in January 2007.

Kocis was found slain inside his Dallas Township residence that was set ablaze on Jan. 24.

The fire endangered firefighters and items stolen from the home during the robbery are two aggravating factors prosecutors will present to the jury.

"The heat was terrible, we really didn't have any visibility," Dallas firefighter Michael James Hawk testified.

Hawk was part of a search team that entered Kocis' home while it was ablaze.

"Something happened to my equipment, my face mask," Hawk said when he crawled up the stairs and started searching the second floor. "All of a sudden, I started breathing in smoke, tasting smoke."

Kocis' mother, Joyce Kocis, said her son was a generous, loving person and was heartbroken when she learned of her son's death.

"You have to know Bryan, if only you knew Bryan the way we did, he was very private," Joyce testified. "He was the type of person who did things for people."

Cuadra's attorneys, Joseph D'Andrea and Paul Walker, are expected present to the jury several mitigating factors not to impose the death penalty to include Cuadra's service in the U.S. Navy, Cuadra's age at the time of Kocis' death, no prior criminal convictions, participation in the homicide was minimal and being a victim of sexual abuse as a child.

8:21 AM: Now that Harlow Cuadra was found guilty of first-degree murder, we move on to the penalty phase. Starting at 8:30 AM, the jury is expected to hear testimony from Kocis’ family, Cuadra’s family and likely psychiatrists before it deliberates Cuadra’s punishment of life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Stay tuned for further updates throughout the day. Meanwhile, here's a good article written by the Times Leader.