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Friday
Apr252008
Jean Pierre Orlewicz Guilty of Murder
Friday, April 25, 2008 at 2:32AM 
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.
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Reader Comments (41)
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.
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.
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).
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.
where is jean pierre orlewicz jailed?
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.
Can't a teenager be rehabbed? People aren't born evil. Jails aren't for rehabiltaion, we all know that.
As a personal friend of Dan anyone saying that these "boys" are getting a harsh punishment is a bleeding heart for the wrong cause. This was a sadistic planned out murder. My friend was a good man and he will be missed. If the victim were your friend I doubt you'd be ranting harsh punishment nonsense about the killers. As far as I am concerned they can both rot in hell. Think before you post some content sympathetic to some cold blooded murderous son's of bitches, there's people out there that know Dan, like me, that take offense to your unwarranted empathy.
As a personal friend of Alex i can honestly say I know in my heart Alex would have never been involved in anything like this, it was a horrible case of Wrong Place Wrong Time!!! Alex is a very Peace Loving Kid he got entangled in a hideous web spun by JP and could not escape. Shock and Horror and I'm sure disbelief played a key role in not reporting it to the police right away and the fact he was threatened. I know most of you want to believe the worst when in comes to my friend Alex, but know this Alex always looked for the good in everybody, so before you judge him just know he would not judge you. He would all want you to know that!!! Remember he was the one in that police tape that commented "Dan semed like a real nice guy he didn't deserve to die that way"!!!
What prison is Jean Pierre Orlewicz in?
to rachel, he's in st. louis. here is the following link
http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=687570
Pat asked: "Can't a teenager be rehabbed?"
I ask: Can Dan Sorenson be rehabbed?
Where was J.P. released to court? What does that mean?
I ask: Can Dan Sorenson be rehabbed?
Can drug-dealing thugs who relish the fact that they do various "jobs" for people and post pictures of themselves with firearms on their MySpaces be rehabbed? I suppose we'll never know . . .
I am horrified at the lack of information many of you have about this case, and about the character of Dan Sorensen in particular. Dan was NOT a drug dealer, did NOT have pics of himself with weapons on his MySpace page, and was NOT a thug. He also was NOT a sex offender. As confirmed by many, many sources, Jean Pierre Orlewicz was an individual who was manipulative, odd, and cunning. He would have killed, again, had he not been convicted. Would you like him to live in YOUR neighborhood?
As a post script to my above message: I am sorry you lost such a good friend, Nick. All of us who knew and loved Dan will never forget him. He was, indeed, a very good man.
JP is a god and I praise him
We crashed our boat one night and JP was the first person running down the beach to make sure we were okay.
I don't care if JP saved your puppy!! What he did to Dan Sorensen was TOTALLY a planned out murder!!
Scumbag should get the same treatment he did in the murder.He should be Bubbas b**ch in jail for life. He does not deserve to live even in jail, only in hell. What a piece of garbage. The fact that he was a teenager does not matter. Evil is evil.
Yowza !!!! JP is a hotty ! My only regret is he might be locked-up for life pending appeal. He and his blond friend are soooooooo sexy !!!!!!
i watched this intire case and to me it is sad that jp is losing his life. Every one of those kids went up there and said what they were told to say. you tell a 17 and 18 year old kid "say this or go to jail for the rest of your life" they are going to say what they are told. And in my opinion that is exactly what they did. They were coached! not a one of their breathing even became indifferent. Except mullens. Could he quit biting his lip or looking down or looking up or umm ummm.. Please. Daniel sorenson shouldn't have been hanging out with young kids and supplying them with drugs and alcohol! He put himself in that position, bullying and ppo's that weren't admissable... please this is a young man's ENTIRE life. anything that could bring more light to this crime would hae helped. I believe this was a crime of self defense and after the fact they were scared of what would happen so just get rid of it and forget about it. In a teens mind that works! I feel terrible. Everone forgets how the father says the tools were there he didn't have to search they were readily available. And the freaking tarp was already there! don't call him a monster and this a thrill kill unless you have watched the entire case. The beauty of america is there are two stories but we automatically think people are guilty automatically! Give the defense a chance they were never given a chance because of the nature of this crime. I hope he isn't confined to st louis corrections forever. That would be even sader to have lost 3 young men instead of just one!
WOW! How did JP have enough strength to do what the Muslim radicals do? Learn it on a CD or Video game? We know he certainly had the idle time, His best defense would have been insanity. Seem's to me he is insane.
I have been watching this case on Tru TV. Tru TV has been showing tapes from the trial in our area on cable tv (after the actual trial and sentencing). Fascinating case. I love how the defense team (or was it the defendant himself) recreated Jean Pierre as an "altar boy" who had no idea what he was doing. Disregarding the actual facts in the case, and with the intent to cause distraction, he may have been credible if we didn't get to see what he looked like when the event took place (total disconnect with what we see in court). The extremely damaging audio tapes of conversations with his father didn't help matters either. Above all, his body language betrays him on the stand. Enough said. Guilty, and he deserves to pay for his crime. Law is law. This teen is particularly bright. He can not now rely on the fact that a jury may treat him differently because he is a teen.
There is a lot more to this story than any these boys are telling.
Also Sorenson was a known bully, I admit it was a gruesome murder.
Considering the movies kids see in this day and age, this is really no surprise. I do believe this man was threatening this kid and that he truely was fearfull for his life. Why was a man Sorensons' age hanging around with 17 and 18 year old kids? He had some kind of problem and I believe he was forcing these kids to partipate in activites that were unsavory or illegal or both. Orlewicz was not right in has actions, but I bet he had a reason.
This was not a "THRILL KILL"