UPDATE: Jury Selection Underway In Harlow Cuadra Murder Trial

UPDATE 2/16/09: Jury selection gets underway for the Cuadra trial. More details after the jump!
ORIGINAL STORY 10/3/07: Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes can’t catch a break. Prosecutors in the January 2007 murder of Corbra Video owner Brian Kocis are seeking the death penalty against the accused porn amateur Cuadra and his partner Kerekes.
Since their assets have been seized, the pair are seeking to sell Norfolk Companions, their male escort agency, to raise funds for their legal defense. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
In a blog post, Cuadra explains the need to sell the agency:
“Hello friends and fans, as you know Joe and I have been charged with Murder and an assortment of other crimes. We are INNOCENT! The dollar amount to defend a capital case is over 250,000.00 dollars combined. We have tried requesting donations and putting up our many personal items for auction to raise these funds. We have not been successful in meeting this demand, the donations and items that were purchased have not covered any where close to the funds required. Our attorneys have now issued a deadline for full payment to them. It is unfortunate that we must sell Norfolk Male Escorts and its client information in order to help raise the funds we require. We are currently working on the auction post so be sure to check our auction site. This decision was not made lightly, this is a matter of life and death! We are fighting for our lives. We can no longer afford to hold on to anything that would be considered an asset. Our Lawyers have stated that if they are not paid within there time frame they will withdraw from our cases, We have less then six days to come up with the sum of money they are looking for, that would be in excess of 150,000.00. Thank you for your support in this matter.”
The pair are also selling other items such as a 45-minute interview with the duo, Harlow’s underwear and gym shorts, and their hot tub.

UPDATE 2/16/09: The crime blotter of The Gay Porn Times has posted an update about the jury selection for the Cuadra trial. Here’s a highlight from the post:

Jury selection begins this week in a Luzerne County, Pennsylvania courthouse. You’ll recall Mr. Cuadra’s co-defendant, Joseph Kerekes, on December 8 abruptly pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Cobra Video producer Bryan Kocis in January 2007; he was sentenced to the mandatory life in prison without parole. He has vowed that he will not take the stand against Mr. Cuadra, who has refused a plea agreement and as a result, “faces the death penalty,” reports the Citizen’s Voice newspaper today.

We’re ambivalent because while we love our porn stars, we’re definitely anti-murder. Looks like a jury of his peers will have the final say.