WIIKES-BARRE, Pa — Attorneys for two Virginia men charged in the slaying of a Dallas Township man in January 2007 are asking a Luzerne County judge to dismiss evidence seized from their Virginia Beach home.

They say the search warrant as it applies to Pennsylvania law wasn’t followed properly. The issue will be one of many brought up by attorneys John Pike and Shelley Centini, who represent Joseph Kerekes, and attorneys Steven Menn and Michael Senape, who represent Harlow Cuadra.

Kerekes, 34, and Cuadra, 26, are charged in the slaying of Bryan Kocis, 44, at Kocis’ home. Prosecutors suspect they killed Kocis, whom they considered their main rival in the gay porn movie industry.

Investigators with the state police at Wyoming, Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office and Dallas Township police assisted Virginia Beach authorities in executing a search warrant at Kerekes and Cuadra’s home on Feb. 10, 2007, according to the warrant signed by a Virginia Beach Circuit Court judge.

Items such as videotapes, receipts, camcorders, computers and firearms were taken from the home, according to the warrant inventory receipt. Prosecutors claim the search followed Virginia law.

In court records filed on Monday, Kerekes’ and Cuadra’s attorneys argue the search should be construed under Pennsylvania law because the search was the result of information obtained by Pennsylvania investigators that was passed on to Virginia Beach authorities.

The attorneys claim the search, under Pennsylvania law, wasn’t followed because the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office didn’t sign the search warrant as required, and the search began at 5:53 a.m., which is considered a “nighttime” search. A nighttime search in Pennsylvania, the attorneys said, requires additional cause for the search.

The attorneys said Pennsylvania law for a search warrant defines a nighttime search as 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Kerekes’ attorneys are asking to dismiss the items seized as a result of the search because the search warrant affidavit fails to implicate Kerekes in the murder.

Attorneys also are seeking to have recorded conversations the two men had with Aprosecution witnesses Sean Lockhart and Grant Roy in San Diego thrown out because investigators failed to obtain warrants to record them.

Lockhart was a contract model for Kocis’ company, Cobra Video. Roy was Lockhart’s business agent, according to court records. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled to resume Thursday before Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.