(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) Harlow Cuadra is appealing his conviction of life without parole for the killing of Cobra video owner Bryan Kocis.

Cuadra’s former lover and business partner, 35-year-old Joseph Kerekes, already is serving life after pleading guilty last December to second degree murder after making a deal with prosecutors.

Kocis’ body was discovered in his home in 2006 by firefighters responding to a blaze in the rural home. More than 80 percent of the body was covered by third-degree burns and police said the fire had been set deliberately to destroy evidence.

Forensics experts were able to resurrect the hard drive of a computer found at the scene. The contents led investigators to Cuadra and Kerekes.

Cuadra and Kerekes saw Kocis as a competitor.

The 27-year-old Cuadra had faced a death sentence, but the jury of eight men and four women could not reach a unanimous decision on whether the prosecution had met the burden of proof that the death penalty was appropriate.

During his trial, Cuadra took the stand in his own defense and testified that Kerekes was a controller.  He said that Kerekes managed his e-mail accounts and held Cuadra’s credit and identification cards at all times, even when they went out.

Cuadra, crying openly, told the jury that as a child he had been sexually abused by his stepfather and hid his homosexuality until he left the Navy.

But two police officers who arrested the pair offered conflicting testimony.

Luzerne County Detective Daniel Yersha told the court that after Cuadra listened to the charges he told investigators that Kerekes was not involved.

“He said, ‘Joe didn’t do it,’” Yersha testified.

A second detective involved in the arrest, Dallas Township police Sgt. Doug Higgins, corroborated Yersha’s testimony.

Higgins said that after the charges were read, something that took 75 minutes, he asked Cuadra if he were hungry.

“He blurted out, Joe didn’t do it,” Higgins testified.

A forensics investigator testified that a laptop computer seized from Cuadra’s home had several pictures of Kocis saved to it, as well as nude photos of Cuadra that were sent to Kocis just days before the killing.

The prosecution argued that the photos of Kocis were to help Cuadra identify him, and that the nude shots of Cuadra were meant as a lure to get into Kocis’ home.

The court has not indicated if it will entertain an appeal.