WILKES-BARRE – Cancel the September murder trial for double homicide suspects Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes.
Attorneys for the two Virginia men on Tuesday requested to delay the trial until a third attorney for each man is appointed by the court.
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. granted the request, rescheduling the trial to begin Jan. 5 with jury selection. The trial had been scheduled to start Sept. 2.
The two are accused in the January 2007 slaying of Dallas Township gay film producer Bryan Kocis, 44, at Kocis’ Midland Drive home.
Luzerne County Assistant District Attorneys Michael Melnick, Shannon Crake and Allyson Kacmarski are seeking the death penalty for Cuadra, 27, and Kerekes, 34, both of Virginia Beach.
Kerekes’ attorneys, Shelley Centini and John Pike, and Cuadra’s attorneys, Michael Senape and Stephen Menn, requested to delay the trial until a third attorney is appointed to assist them in defending their clients.
The yet-to-be appointed attorneys will replace attorney Mark Bufalino, who co-represented Kerekes, and attorney Paul Galante, who co-represented Cuadra.
Bufalino and Galante withdrew from the case on July 10 citing a conflict of interest because they work in the same private law firm. After Bufalino and Galante were permitted to withdraw last month, Olszewski said he would appoint attorneys to replace them.
At Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing, Olszewski said attempts are still being made to find attorneys who are qualified in defending death penalty cases.
Centini said in her request to delay the trial that she hadn’t received Bufalino’s file. Without Bufalino’s file, Centini said, “It would make it entirely difficult but not impossible” to defend Cuadra.
In a telephone conversation on Tuesday, Olszewski said Bufalino related that Cuadra’s attorneys have all necessary court records.
Olszewski said he expects to file his rulings next week on requests by attorneys for Cuadra and Kerekes for separate trials and to prohibit prosecutors from using conversations that were recorded in San Diego, Calif., in April 2007.
Investigators recorded conversations between Cuadra and Kerekes and Grant Roy, a pornographic film producer, and actor Sean Lockhart. During the conversations, Cuadra and Kerekes allegedly admitted to being involved in the killing, according to court records.
Prosecutors claim in court records that Cuadra and Kerekes killed Kocis because they wanted to film movies with Lockhart, who was a contract model for Kocis’ company Cobra Video.
