Sentence set after jury can’t agree on death penalty
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — A Virginia man convicted of killing a rival in the gay-porn business is to get life in prison because a Pennsylvania jury couldn’t agree on whether he deserved the death penalty.
Luzerne County jurors could not reach a unanimous decision Monday, March 16 on the punishment for 27-year-old Harlow Raymond Cuadra of Virginia Beach, Va.
Under Pennsylvania law, a sentence of life without parole is automatic in that situation.
Cuadra was convicted of first-degree murder and other offenses in the 2007 slaying of Bryan Kocis in his rural northeastern Pennsylvania home.
Another Virginia Beach man who prosecutors say worked with Cuadra pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December. He is 35-year-old Joseph Kerekes, who authorities say was Cuadra’s lover and business partner.