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A state appellate court upheld the conviction and life sentence for a Virginian man who was found guilty by a Luzerne County jury of killing a rival movie producer in Dallas Township in 2007.
Harlow Cuadra, 29, sought a new trial claiming mistakes were made by the judge, Peter Paul Olszewski Jr., before and during the two week trial in March 2009.
Cuadra claimed Olszewski erred in disqualifying Attorney Demetrius Fannick from representing him and permitted prosecutors to play two audio recordings during the trial. Cuadra claimed the secret recordings of his conversations with two witnesses cooperating with investigators violated Pennsylvania’s wiretap law despite the recordings taking place in California.
The jury heard the audio recordings and was provided with written transcripts over objections by Cuadra’s trial lawyers, Paul Walker and Joseph D’Andrea.
Cuadra was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the slaying of Bryan Kocis, 44, inside Kocis’ Dallas Township home on Jan. 24, 2007. Investigators said Cuadra and his partner, Joseph Kerekes, 26, killed Kocis, their rival in the gay pornography industry before setting the house on fire.
Kerekes pled guilty to second degree murder in December 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison.
In a five page ruling issued on Oct. 14, the Superior Court upheld Cuadra’s conviction and sentencing, stating Olszewski’s rulings before and during Cuadra’s trial were “well detailed and well-reasoned.”
“We can find no error in its factual findings and corollary legal conclusions,” the appellate court ruled on each of the issues Cuadra challenged.
Cuadra is jailed at the State Correctional Institution at Coal Township in Northumberland County, and Kerekes is jailed at SCI-Huntingdon Township in Huntingdon County, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Correction’s website.
Olszewski lost his bid at retention in the November 2009 election.
