Lawyers and Judges are like crocodiles, they have not evolved in millions of years.

The biggest unknown factor in the prosecution of Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes is that they both had legal counsel PRIOR TO THEIR ARRESTS.

Surely an experienced criminal attorney should have forseen that:

1. Virginia Beach would, more likely than not, file a RICO Action against Cuadra and Kerekes or take some other action to make it difficult for Cuadra and Kerekes to be able to afford legal counsel, the Prosecution of John Gotti appears to be THE TEMPLATE for all criminal prosecutions these days;

in the prosecution of John Gotti, The US Attorney disqualified Gotti’s long time lawyer Bruce Cutler. Cutler had managed to obtain “non guilty verdicts” for Gotti in several previous prosecutions.

2. That Cuadra and Kerekes would be rendered to Luzerne County Pennsylvania for prosecution on murder charges;

3. That Cuadra and Kerekes would be assigned Public Defenders by Luzerne County.

Now, here is where it gets interesting.

If an attorney for Cuadra and Kerekes had investigated Luzerne County’s Public Defender’s Office, wouldn’t an experienced criminal attorney have discovered that Jonathan Blum and Al Flora, Jr, attorneys in the Luzerne County Public Defenders Office, were once Bryan Kocis’ lawyers? Surely the private attorney William Rizzo hired by Harlow Cuadra knew that Jonathan Blum and Al Flora Jr once repesented Bryan Kocis. William Rizzo is himself an attorney in Luzerne County’s public defender’s office.

Al Flora, Jr. was asked by a Luzerne County newspaper to respond to the ABA’s Death Penalty Assessment for Pennsylvania and the importance of proper legal counsel for defendants in death penalty cases CLICK HERE.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dos not require County Coroner or Medical Examiner to be Accredited

Just as an experienced criminal lawyer should have known that Luzerne County’s Public Defender’s office would have conflict free representation issues, an experienced criminal lawyer should have known that Luzerne County would have Expert Witness Problems with establishing a time of death for Bryan Kocis.

Not only did the ABA discuss the importance of conflict free representation in death penalty cases but, the Executive Summary of the ABA’s “Evaluatiing Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems: The Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report” highlights the fact that Luzerne County Corners/Medical Examiners are NOT Accredited through the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME).. CLICK HERE

As with its crime laboratories, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvnia does not require county coroner or medical examiner offices to be accredited. To date, no Pennsylvania county coroner office or medical examiner office has obtained voluntary accreditation through the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME). While Pennsylvania does not require such accreditation, it has established the Coroner’s Education Board to create minimum training standards and continuing education requirements for newly elected coroners and deputy coroners. In the few counties, such as Allegheny and Delaware Counties, which instead employ a medical examiner, qualifications for the position appear to vary, although all require that the medical examiner be a pathologist. ABA