(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) The attorney for Harlow Cuadra, accused of killing gay porn producer Bryan Kocis, says his client is innocent and is pointing the finger at three others – one of them Cuadra’s former lover Joseph Kerekes.

Kerekes pleaded guilty in December to the lesser charge of second degree murder and was sentenced to life behind bars.

“[Kerekes and Cuadra] had a male escort business, a male prostitution business. It was money that motivated Joseph Kerekes; he prostituted his lover Harlow to make money,” attorney Joseph D’Andrea told the jury.

According to D’Andrea, Kerekes and two others – Sean Lockhart, a gay porn actor who used the name Brent Corrigan and was under contract to Kocis, and Grant Roy, who now is a producer in business with Lockhart  – had a far better motive for wanting Kocis.

Prior to the murder, Kokis and Roy settled a copyright dispute in which Kokis had claimed he had rights to the Corrigan name. 

“You’ll hear that Grant Roy and Sean Lockhart hated Bryan Kocis; they even wanted him dead,” D’Andrea said. And he alleged Lockhart had a separate deal with Kerekes to make videos for him with Cuadra that would have netted Kerekes hundreds of thousands of dollars.

D’Andrea’s version of the crime differs significantly from the prosecutions.

Assistant district attorney Michael Melnick said that Cuadra was the ringleader, assisted by Kerekes. Melnick is seeking the death penalty for Cuadra.

A company representative from USA People Search testified Wednesday that Cuadra purchased a background report on Kocis, that showed information such as his address, phone number and other facts about him just four days before the murder.

A medical examiner testified that Kocis died of massive blood loss after his head was nearly sliced off. He suffered between 28 and 29 post mortem stab wounds before his home was torched in an attempt to cover up the killing.

When Kocis’ body was discovered by firefighters, more than 80 percent of the body was covered by third-degree burns.

Homicide detectives were able to find Kocis’ computer in the charred remains of the rural home and forensics scientists salvaged and reconstructed part of the hard drive, finding a photograph of a man who was scheduled to meet Kocis the night he was killed.

Several days after the picture was released, the Times Leader newspaper found a Virginia beach escort  – Harlow Cuadra – who said it was his headshot, but he was working in Virginia the night Kocis was killed.

It was then that police began collecting evidence on Cuadra. That led them to Roy, who was fitted with a recording device when he met with the pair and Lockhart at a California restaurant.

The prosecution alleges that both Cuadra and Kerekes made incriminating statements on the tape.