Did Harlow Caudra Drop The Bomb on Luzerne County Prosecutors?
Cuadra said he was referring to his childhood when he was molested by his stepfather, and Kerekes kept drilling into him that Kocis had a conviction of possession of child pornography.
“That’s what Kerekes told me, that I got revenge. It all ended up twisted in that statement,” Cuadra said. Timesleader
Harlow Cuadra took the witness stand in A Strategic Defense Move that frankly appears bizarre on its face. However, an emotionally charged seemingly indirect reference to Bryan Kocis 2002 Guilty Plea may in fact have been the only legal means by which Cuadra’s attorneys could have gotten around Judge Peter Olszewski prohibiting Defense Attorneys from referring to Bryan Kocis’ 2002 guilty plea. In fact, it appears to me that.
<center>The Bomb Has Been Droppped</center>
Bryan Kocis plead guilty in 2002 to a child molestation charge that required that Kocis register as a Sex Offender under PA’s Megans Law. However, Kocis did not register as a Sex Offender.
It has been rumored that TWO INDIVIDUALS with a long standing legal dispute with Kocis contacted the Commonwealth of PA Megans Law Officer in 2006 with a complaint that Kocis did not register as a Sex Offender in 2002 as required. Subsequently, Bryan Kocis 2002 Guilty Plea was ALTERED / CORRECTED by Judge Michael Conahan, The Luzerne County DA’s Office and Defense Attorney Al Flora, Jr in 2006. As we have reported here many times, We are of the opinion that The Luzerne County DA should have recused itself from the Bryan Kocis murder investigation as a result of The Luzerne County DA’s office participation in the 2006 “Correction” to Bryan Kocis’ 2002 Guilty Plea.
Harlow Cuadra may not now be able to claim that The Luzerne County DA had a motive to want Bryan Kocis Dead, however, Cuadra can claim selective prosecution by the Luzerne County DA charging that Sean Lockhart and Grant Roy were not charged, more likely than not, because Prosecutors wanted to keep Bryan Kocis’ 2002 Guilty Plea out of any Murder Trial.
It now remains to be seen whether or not Harlow Cuadra’s lawyers will seize upon Cuadra’s APPARENT casual reference to Bryan Kocis’ CONVICTION to have Luzerne County Prosecutors removed because of a conflict of interest associated with the Luzerne County DA’s Office “altering / correcting” Bryan Kocis’ 2002 Guilty Plea in 2006.
Harlow Cuadra taking the witness stand is clearly a rather daring and kamikaze-like move from Harlow Cuadra but a move which actually may have been the only legal way for Cuadra to force the issue of Luzerne County DA’s Conflict of Interest into Cuadra’s Trial.
It is our understanding that Judge Peter Olszewski granted a Prosecution motion to prevent Defense Attorneys from raising Bryan Kocis’ 2002 Guilty Plea at Cuadra’s Trial. It is very obvious that Cuadra has in fact raised Kocis’ 2002 guilty Plea at this trial.
A review of your information makes clear that Mr. Cuadra may
move to recuse the District Attorney’s Office if he feels that there is a conflict of interest.
The fact, however, that the District Attorney may have found legal merit in a motion to correct the record, does not in itself create a conflict of interest.
It is well within Mr. Cuadra’s power to fully litigate this issue at his trial. For that reason, the U.S. Department of Justice declines to intervene. US Attorney’s email reply to The Bitchless Blog.
Forcing The Recusal of The Luzerne County DA’s Office
We feel that we have accomplished our task to see to it that The Luzerne County DA’s participation in altering / correcting Bryan Kocis’ 2002 Guilty Plea was raised and litigated IN PUBLIC by The Defense Teams for Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes. AND, as you would imagine, we don’t see any way around the fact that The Luzerne County DA’s should recuse itself from The Bryan Kocis Investigation and The Prosecutions of Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes.
Quite frankly, Harlow Cuadra’s little description of the murder doesn’t really play all that well because, as I understand the facts, there weren’t any defensive wounds on Bryan Kocis’ hands and body to suggest that Kocis fought with his attacker. However, none of what Harlow Cuadra has testified to amounts to a hill of beans if Cuadra can use what he has done to force the Recusal of The Luzerne County DA
While I personally would not have recommended The Route that Harlow Cuadra and his Lawyers have taken to Introduce Bryan Kocis’ 2002 Guilty Plea into Cuadra’s Murder Trial, if it works then THE HOW doesn’t Matter.
If Cuadra can now force the Recusal of The Luzerne County DA’s Office, the entire Bryan Kocis Investigation, Cuadra’s Murder Trial and Joseph Kerekes’ Guilty Plea should ALL GO DOWN IN FLAMES as The Tainted Actions of a Prosecution with a A Conflict of Interest.