DETROIT — A jury convicted an 18-year-old man Wednesday of killing another man, beheading him and setting fire to his body in what prosecutors called a thrill killing.
Jean Pierre Orlewicz was charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 7 slaying outside Detroit of Daniel Sorensen, 26. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
The defense had argued in Wayne County Circuit Court that Orlewicz killed the much larger Sorensen in self-defense and mutilated the body because he feared reprisal by organized crime figures.
But prosecutors said Orlewicz carefully planned the killing, as shown by the 13 knife blows used to kill Sorensen in Canton Township.
Alexander Letkemann, 18, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder just before the trial. He testified that Orlewicz, who was his friend, slit Sorensen's throat and repeatedly stabbed him.
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Letkemann will be sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison this month as part of a plea deal.
Orlewicz took the stand in his own defense, telling the court he decapitated Sorensen and burned his fingers to hide his identity because he feared Sorensen had mobster relatives who would come after him.
Orlewicz testified he stabbed Sorensen after the 280-pound bar bouncer pointed a gun at him and Letkemann.
At a news conference in November announcing charges against Orlewicz and Letkemann, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy described them as two thrill-seeking teenagers. She said they ambushed Sorensen in a garage owned by Orlewicz's grandfather.
"They lured him in the garage where they prepared a space to kill him," Worthy said at the time.
Authorities said Sorensen's torso was loaded into his pickup truck, taken about seven miles to a cul-de-sac and set on fire with gasoline. Sorensen's head was found in the Rouge River on the border of Detroit and Dearborn Heights, about 15 miles from where the torso was found.