Pocono News Section

Cuadra Trial Latest

Cuadra Trial Latest - Friday, March 6, 2009 at 5:42PM EST

Reported by: Kyla Campbell
Friday, Mar 6, 2009 @ 05:42pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY -- It's day nine of the murder trial for Harlow Cuadra. He's accused of stabbing Bryan Kocis to death in 2007, then setting his Dallas Township home on fire.

The prosecution called witnesses Friday regarding two main topics -- the fire at Kocis's home and email communication between Kocis and Cuadra, who police say was posing as someone else.

Dallas Fire Chief Harry Vivian testified this morning about the heavy flames at the murder scene that put crews' lives in danger. Prosecutors are pursuing an arson angle as well as murder for a potential death penalty sentence if they get a conviction.

The 79th witness was called this afternoon. Brian Murphy, a Pennsylvania State Police computer expert testified an email account was created two days before Kocis's death on a computer using an IP address assigned to Cuadra.

Trooper Murphy went on to say there was email correspondence between that account, dmbottompa@yahoo. com, and Kocis's email account, cobravideo@aol. com. Some emails included nude photos of Cuadra, who told Kocis via email that his name was Danny Moilin. Cuadra, posing as Moilin, also applied to be part of Kocis's gay pornography business, and the two agreed to meet on January 24th, the night Kocis was murdered.

The trial resumes Monday when the prosecution is expected to rest after calling at least one more key witness, Luzerne County Detective Dan Yursha. At that point, the defense takes over. That's when Cuadra's boyfriend and admitted killer, Joseph Kerekes, is expected to testify.