Harlow Cuadra Testifies In Own Defense, Corrigan To Face Death Penalty?

UPDATE: 3/11/09 7:15pm While scrolling through RSS feeds this morning, we found this startling (and entirely wrong) headline from PageOneQ.com. Looks like Brent Corrigan better watch his perfect, bubble-shaped ass or he could end up a dead man!
UPDATE: 3/11/09 3:30pm The closing arguments have begun, with the defense penning it all on Kerekes and the prosecution saying the murder wasn’t “a solo act.”
In what seems to be the last day of testimony, three exciting things happened: 1) Joseph Kerekes took the stand in Cuadra’s defense then said absolutely nothing, 2) Cuadra’s mom stood up and shouted, “You stole my son,” to Kerekes, and 3) Cuadra told his version of events, which sounded, to put it lightly, a little fishy. Here’s highlights quoted directly and summarized from H and J Trial and The Advocate:

After speculation over wether Kerekes would testify for or against Cuadra, he just showed up and said nothing for five minutes… thanks a lot, Joe.
1) KEREKES HOLDS HIS TONGUE: Before Cuadra took the stand, jurors saw his ex-boyfriend and convicted second-degree murderer, Joe Kerekes. Sources told one reporter that in exchange for Joe’s testimony, the defense team deposited $300 into Joe’s canteen (so that he could buy a TV).
Wearing prison garb and shackles, Kerekes took the stand briefly but refused to speak about the case. “I’ve been thinking a lot about my parents, and it would destroy them if I said something that I didn’t do,” Kerekes said. Kerekes’ horrendous grammar makes his comments a little difficult to understand, but he apparently changed his mind about testifying on behalf of his ex-boy candy.
Kerekes, 35, pleaded guilty to second-degree homicide in December and is serving a life sentence. In his plea, he said Cuadra killed Kocis and then set fire to his Dallas Township home in January 2007. Kerekes’ testimony could have absolved Cuadra of all guilt, but his silence is far more damning. The defense team should’ve blown that 300 bucks on hats.

We could not find a picture of Cuadra’s mom, so we used this picture instead. It’s from a Nintendo DS game called Ace Lawyer.
2) CUADRA’S MOM CALLS KEREKES OUT: After Kerekes’ amazingly underwhelming testimony, Cuadra’s mother shouted “You stole my son,” at Kerekes as he left the courtroom. We’re not sure if she meant “My son’s gonna rot because of your crap testimony” or if she meant “You took the best years of his life, you big-dicked bastard.” Either way, tres dramatique!
You see, when Kerekes pleaded guilty to second-degree homicide in December, he said Cuadra killed Kocis and then set fire to his Dallas Township home, effectively implicating his ex for first-degree murder (pre-meditation and and active role in its execution). We’re not sure what part Cuadra played in the near-decapitation, 28 stabbings, and torching of Kocis. But according to Cuadra’s testimony, Cuadra had no role in the murder other than as a bystander.
Read Cuadra’s version of events after the jump!

Graphic from The Advocate
3) HARLOW’S HARROWING TALE: Cuadra, 27, was the only witness to testify in his defense. He sobbed and had to stop several times during his more than four hours of testimony. Cuadra spent much of the morning talking about his life, from being molested by his step-father from age 8, experiencing family problems because of his homosexuality and enlisting in the U.S. Navy and meeting Joseph Kerekes before getting discharged after three years in the service.
“I don’t mean this in a bad way, but it is a straight man’s military,” Cuadra said.
Cuadra said he began escorting soon after meeting Kerekes, whom he described, as a controlling man with charming skills.
Escorting turned into producing gay pornographic films as a “hobby,” Cuadra said, which turned into boybatter.com. Cuadra told the jury that the Web site earned several hundred dollars and Kerekes quickly took it over.
Cuadra discussed meeting Grant Roy and adult film actor Sean Lockhart at the Adult Video News expo in Las Vegas, Nev., in mid-January 2007. During dinner, in which, Cuadra said Roy and Kerekes talked about filming movies together, Cuadra said he and Lockhart were “playing footsies” under the table.
Cuadra said Lockhart and Roy were Kerekes’ “biggest obsession.”
Cuadra and Kerekes wanted to make a “million-dollar” film with porn star Brent Corrigan. Corrigan had performed in several titles for Cobra Video before he turned 18 and, until early last year, was entangled in a litigious feud with Cobra over the use of his stage name. At the time of their Las Vegas meeting, Kocis had a verbal settlement in a civil federal lawsuit he filed against Roy and Lockhart over the Corrigan name.
Cobra webmaster Alexander Fuente testified that Kocis received e-mails two days before his murder from someone who identified himself as Danny Moilin seeking to audition for a Cobra film. In the photos submitted, Moilin resembles Cuadra.
On Friday prosecutors showed the jury one of the allegedly many photos sent to Kocis under the false name. Trooper Brian Murphy, a computer forensic investigator, said he was able to trace at least a dozen e-mails and photos between Moilin and Kocis in January 2007.
According to Cuadra, it was Kerekes’ initial idea to shoot a film with Cobra Video, the gay pornography company owned by Kocis, Cuadra said. Kerekes set up the e-mail account for “Danny Moilin,” and Cuadra just followed along. Moilin was the name of a fictitious model who was to meet with Kocis the day he was killed. Kocis knew who he was, based on the photos Kerekes had e-mailed him, Cuadra said.
Kerekes dropped Cuadra off around 7 p.m. on Jan. 24, 2007, at Kocis’ home for a potential video shoot with Kocis, Cuadra said. For about 20 minutes, Cuadra talked pleasantly with Kocis at his Midland Drive home, Cuadra said, when a “rapid knock” came at the front door.
“I never thought it would be Joe,” Cuadra said, but it was Kerekes who “stormed through the door” and began to fight with Kocis.
“Joseph looks at me, and knocks Bryan in the face. Bryan was wearing one of those workout suits, all black, no shoes just white socks, and Joseph grabs Bryan and throws him on the couch and starts punching the hell out of him,” Cuadra said.
Cuadra said he jumped on Kerekes’ back in an attempt to stop the assault.
“Joseph reaches in his pocket and pulls out a knife and slashed Bryan’s throat. I yelled, ‘Joe, what are you doing, he said to get the fuck out.’ ”
Scared, Cuadra left and hid in their rented Nissan XTerra parked in Kocis’ driveway for 15 minutes, Cuadra said, as Kerekes lit fire to Kocis’ home and placed stolen computer towers, two laptop computers and other items in the vehicle.
Kerekes drove away and pulled into a service station where he disposed of a laptop computer and papers taken from Kocis’ home, Cuadra said.
Cuadra drove the rest of the way returning to their hometown of Virginia Beach, Va., on Jan. 25.
On the trip to Virginia, Cuadra said Kerekes told him, “Baby, we cannot talk about this ever again.”
Cuadra said he informed Kerekes that several of their escort clients, including Kerekes’ mother, knew about their trip to Pennsylvania.
“That was the longest day of my life,” Cuadra said. “I completely shut down after that day, completely shut down. I stopped seeing clients.”
Days after Kocis’ murder, Cuadra said Kerekes began to panic and the pair stayed in several Virginia Beach hotels.
Cuadra said they fled the Virginia Beach area after learning authorities had raided their home on Feb. 10, 2007.
“Joseph started feeling really paranoid and rightly so,” Cuadra said. “I think it was beginning to dawn on him that he made his last mistake.”
Using an escort client’s vehicle, Cuadra said they fled to Jacksonville, Fla, where they stayed in a hotel for a night, and made their way to a hotel in South Beach, Fla., where they stayed for about 45 days. Cuadra said when he found out he was a person of interest in the murder, he begged Kerekes to return to their Virginia Beach home, which they did a day before Easter on April 7.
Cuadra claimed he wanted to talk with investigators, but Kerekes stopped him.
“He wouldn’t let me go anywhere by myself,” Cuadra said about Kerekes.
“There was nothing to stop you from calling Pennsylvania police?” Melnick asked.
“Sir, I was so scared, I wasn’t scared of the authorities, I was scared of Joseph (Kerekes).”
For much of his testimony, Cuadra portrayed Kerekes as a person who controlled his life, explaining their relationship as the Stockholm Syndrome.
“I couldn’t go into a grocery store to buy toilet paper without him being there,” Cuadra said, adding Kerekes kept 16 to 18 credit cards in his name.
Also, check out QC’s coverage of the case below:
Testimony Highlights From Harlow Cuadra Trial
Harlow Cuadra To Testify This Week In Bryan Kocis Capital Murder Trial
UPDATE: Brent Corrigan Admits Underage Porn Acting And Helping FBI In Cuadra Murder Case
UPDATE: Jury Selection Underway In Harlow Cuadra Murder Trial
QCA TV Quickie: Harlow Cuadra On Here!
QCA Television: Everything You Wanted To Know About Gay Porn Stars (But Were Afraid To Ask)
Porn Stars and Family Rally to “Free Harlow Cuadra”
Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Manuel Kerekes Arrested!