Could Jean Pierre Orlewicz – Plymouth Township teen convicted in beheading – get a new trial?
Police said Jean Pierre Orlewicz and a fellow teen used knives, a hacksaw and a blow torch to burn, behead and kill a River Rouge man in 2007. In 2008, a jury said he was guilty of murder. And now, it’s up to a judge to decide whether Orlewicz deserves a new trial because of testimony from a psychiatrist who wasn’t allowed to testify in the original. The Detroit News reports Judge Bruce U. Morrow said today he’ll decide on the matter by Thanksgiving. The psychiatrist says the Plymouth Township teenager was abused by his mother and felt helpless. Orlewicz says he was threatened by the victim, 26-year-old Daniel Sorensen, and killed in self defense. Prosecutors say the testimony wouldn’t have changed the verdict.
