Jean Pierre Orlewicz Guilty of Murder
Posted by shadmia on April 25, 2008
Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 18, of Canton, Michigan, was found guilty of: First-degree murder, Felony murder and Mutilation of a corpse. The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days before coming to a unanimous verdict. He will be sentenced by Judge Annette J. Berry on May 16, 2008.
He had been charged along with his friend, Alexander Letkemann, in the killing of Daniel Sorensen, 26 on November, 7, 2007 in what had been called a “Thrill Kill”. Letkemann pleaded guilty to second-degree murder April 1. He was sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison in exchange for his testimony against Orlewicz.
Jean Pierre Orlewicz took the stand and admitted that he killed Sorenson but insisted that it was in self-defense. He admitted stabbing Sorenson 13 times after an extortion plan went awry and Sorenson threatened his life. “There was not a murder,” Orlewicz testified. During his testimony Orlewicz also admitted that after Sorenson died, he used a hacksaw to decapitate him. He said he threw Sorenson’s torso into a field and set it on fire. He also said he took a blowtorch to Sorenson’s hands to cover up fingerprints. For more details on the murder, click here.
May 6, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I just feel that this is a very harsh ponisment for this young man. I hope and pray he will set free on his life time.
May 14, 2008 at 9:30 am
I have followed the lineages from where people are from in murders like this and have found very interesting results with the BTK killer being German, and Sorensen, the victim is German; Orlewicz I could not find. Anyway, the Judge is German and the lawyer Thomas, is right in demanding a mistrial. I just read another case of a rapper musician getting only 8 years for firing at probably a poorer women trying to steal thousands from the guilty’s purse. All people involved do seem to have bad thoughts to begin with, it is hard to have sympathy for anyone involved here including the victim since he was the oldest, and with the sources I have read, the most manipulative. The murderer comes off as kind at first for lending hundreds of dollars and then reaches a breaking point and could not control himself any longer. The sources say that Sorensen had a blank gun, but he intended to use it on another victim to withdraw 3,000 dollars? And the vicious murderer was in self-defense of a friend? but did not call the police for reasons of fear? It is hard to know exactly what is going on here and the judge has zero tolerance for anyone involved. This case to me is an act of vengeance– this is not the first case in history where money is lent and the person who does not pay up ends up dead.
May 14, 2008 at 12:34 pm
This is not an act of vengeance. It is an act of sadistic amusement. If you look enough into the case, you will see that the story surrounding this is that JP had wanted to kill someone and get away with it for a while, and that he reveled in comtemplating murder (his myspace website is “skulls make me smile”
beforehand and reveled in desecrating the dead man’s body after the murder.
The “victim” was no angel (convicted sex offender, sort of, and drug dealer), but the teens were not doing this as an act of vigilante justice…JP did this for the thrill of the kill. I think it sets a terrible precedent to let our teens know that they can do (or knowingly go along with, in whatever capacity, something like this). I think Izzy, Alex Mullins and Adam who got away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist should also have been punished…not a 20/30 year sentence like the other Alex, but at the least a 20-30 year probationary period. It is not OK to condone murder or not act on it (e.g. Izzy helped dump the body and then went home and played video games…his punishment…for his testimony against JP, he got away with no punishment). I think a stronger message needed to be sent in this case about how it is not ok to engage in a conspiracy with your friends about murder (or any other serious crime).
June 4, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I believe it was self defense. That being said end if it wasn’t self defense I can’t ever agree with sending a teenager to jail for the rest of his life. At 17 his brain isn’t wired as an adult. He has to be able to be rehabiltated and to give a teenager no chance of ever getting out of jail is horrible.
June 5, 2008 at 2:40 pm
where is jean pierre orlewicz jailed?
June 17, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Look Pat, this kid killed and beheaded another human being. As a deterent don’t you think he SHOULD be locked up for life? Really? I do. If not in prison then in a hospital that will keep him on something to take the edge off. But permanently.
July 17, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Can’t a teenager be rehabbed? People aren’t born evil. Jails aren’t for rehabiltaion, we all know that.