Lastday Approaches

Well, today is January 7. Had the latest Harlow Cuadra trial delay not been granted, we would have actually been in the 3rd day of jury selection right now.

Oh well. The new trial date is February 17, and that is tantalizingly soon enough. Barring further delay (which I doubt) we are in the home stretch. The end is near!

And I am pretty sure now there WILL be a trial. IMO, Harlow was smart to reject the "deal." Now that he no longer suicidally joined at the hip to Joe's defense, he is now free to use his most effective strategy: Joe did it all! Well, most of it, anyways...and what little Harlow can be shown to have done, he was FORCED to do! FORCED! Forced to by that violent tempered, kicked out of his church, Marine drill instructor striking, Desert Eagle .50 wielding, bulletholes in the wall above the headboard Joe!

Joe is the perfect fall guy for the Harlow defense. There is AMPLE character evidence out there against Joe Kerekes Harlow can use to support this sort of "intimidated spouse" defense theory, so yeah, DUH, this is exactly what Harlow will do. And you know...I actually think it will be effective. I think if Harlow's new lawyers do a reasonably competent job, use the character of Joe to it full advantage, combined with the sweet innocence of the dapperly dressed and bespectacled Harlow, sitting there so meek and innocently in the defendant's chair...yeah I actually think it'll be tough sell for the prosecution to get to 1st degree murder.

OTOH, what with Harlow said on the BBTs, "not guilty" is obviouly out of the question. No, the most likely result (and I voted this way in the recent PC poll, BTW) will be 2nd degree. And you know, if the defense REALLY puts on a good show...I would not rule out 3rd degree either. It's a distinct possiblity, I think.

Third-degree murder is an unpremeditated killing with malice, a definition that includes the gross disregard for the life of another person. It carries a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years. Under Pennsylvania law, a first-degree murder can be reduced to third-degree murder if the jury finds the defendant acted with diminished capacity, because of intoxication, a mental defect or other factors. And as we know, Harlow has indeed filed to present such "diminished capacity" evidence for sentencing purposes.

So yeah, anyways, my point being, I think we WILL see a trial now, because IMO a trial is mathematically in Harlow's best interests. He may get death, but with the Crazy Joe defense now in play, MUCH more likely he'll get 2nd degree (= life) and I'd say even a decent shot at 3rd degree. The latter means he could conceivably be walking the streets, a free man, when he's 46. Compared to Joe...not a bad deal at all.

Which gets to the main point of this post...we are now nearing the end. My original plan when the trial was set for January 5 was to formally close this blog following the trial...and I had in mind doing this on January 24, the 2nd anniversary of the murder, if the trial had ended soon enough. I probably would have missed the sentencing phase under this old plan, but that was OK...as I've said many times before, I really don't care about the sentence. A guilty verdict was all I was interested in...that to me is the definition of a Chinchilla Victory. Harlow and/or Joe get death? Fine by me. Life? Fine too. Time served, a $500 fine, and anger management classes? Hey, works for me!

But now we have a February trial, so, this blog's closing date will have to be pushed back too. Figure a week or so for jury selection, 2-3 weeks for the actual trail...we could be into April when we get a verdict.

And on top of that sentencing (couple weeks, maybe?), but more importantly, I am just realizing, would be the end of the gag order. At this point a whole host of interesting witnesses, from Sean and Grant to Justin Hensley and Andrew Shunk, will be finally free to speak frankly to the media. OK, now THIS would be worth it for me to hang around for. So, I shall.

So, lets go ahead and set a new "lastday" for this blog at May 15...yep, you guessed it, Arrest Day 2009! On that day, I'll post a few appropriate closing remarks, and that'll be it. Chinchilla Jim shall fade away, as mysteriously as he came.

A couple other administrative details. First, some of you might be thinking "But Jim, don't have to stop blogging. You could always change the name to 'Chinchilla Nation' and blog about..." NO! DON'T EVEN SUGGEST IT!! WILD HORSES could not get me to blog about "him" anymore. Granted, he provides a blogger on a daily basis with enough ridicule material to last a lifetime, but NO, I've had my fill of him...and porn blogging in general. Once Harlow's case is consigned to oblivion, so shall this blog.

Second, the blog will stay up, but be dormant. I was actually thinking of deleting the whole thing on the last day, and thus making a clean break from the past. But there is a lot of good comments on there, I now realize, and it would be unfair for me to delete them all unilaterally. So, the site will remain, just unattended, with further comments turned off.

As for my other blog, that shall remain up (but permanently dormant) too. I've always planned it that way. It's a pity I likely won't be around to see the legal action begun by Angel and Brad reach it's conclusion, but oh well. Deletion was never an option for that blog; I want it left up as a shining example of the impotency of Kent Barclay and his threats to shut people down...and serve as a warning beacon to others not already familiar with him. I figure, if by leaving it up I save even ONE budding porn star the mistake of unknowingly associating with Kent and thus making a huge personal and career mistake, then it will have served it's purpose.

Update: Unrelated but interesting, Chi Chi to host the Cybersockets. Jason Curious is "looking forward to meeting all of the incredibly hard working and deserving fellow nominees in person" which means even if Kent showed up (which he wont), he'd be snubbed.

Update 2: Brent returns to Vegas:

"I’m sitting here in Las Vegas, reflecting on the last time I was here. This trip marks two years since I’ve been back to Sin City; and for good reason. If you’re at all familiar with my story, you know that two years ago this month was the last time I saw Bryan alive. Two years ago this month was the first time I met Harlow and Joe.

The year that followed was the hardest one I’ve endured yet. With the investigation into Bryan’s murder, the redevelopment of a new website and company, and an ever constant battle to maintain my footing and sanity."

Like Brent I've been doing some reflecting as well; look for some new Musings on the actual two-year "lamb dinner" anniversary (January 14) this Wednesday.