Michigan Teen Gets Life Sentence for 'Thrill Kill' Beheading

Published January 13, 2015

A teenager convicted of killing a man, then beheading him and setting fire to his body in what prosecutors called a thrill killing was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole.

Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 18, didn't speak before being sentenced to the mandatory term.
"I am grateful that you are going away for the rest of your life, because in my view I believe you will kill again," Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Annette Berry said.

Orlewicz was convicted last month of first-degree murder in the Nov. 7 slaying of Daniel Sorensen, 26, in Canton Township.

Sorensen's father, James Sorensen, called the killing "the ultimate act of cowardice." As James Sorensen choked back tears, he told the court: "My son was a victim of a person seeking a trophy."

The defense had argued that Orlewicz killed the much larger Sorensen in self defense and mutilated the body because he feared reprisal by organized crime figures.

Orlewicz's lawyer, James Thomas, said will appeal the conviction and instructed Orlewicz not to speak Monday because of the appeal.

"We had a different view of this trial," Thomas said. "It was a hard-fought case."

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