Human Rights: Murder And Murderers

Update below.


Many years ago, when Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen was only 17 years old, he had sex with a 14-year-old girl. Sorenson claimed he thought the girl was 16 years old. Nevertheless, he was arrested and convicted of a crime in Tazewell County, Ill., and had to register as a sex offender after his release.

Recently, Daniel Sorensen was murdered. He was lured to someone's garage and stabbed multiple times in the back. He was decapitated, his hands and feet burned with a blowtorch, apparently to make identification of the corpse more difficult. His body was dumped in a cul-de-sac, doused with gasoline, and set on fire. His head was dumped in a river. According to the police, his status as a sex offender had nothing to do with the crime committed against him.

These are the murderers of Daniel Sorensen:

Jean-Pierre Orlewicz

Alexander James Letkemann

In a court of law, everyone is innocent until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In the court of public opinion, guilty is as gossip does.

Jean-Pierre Orlewicz is 17 years old. Alexander James Letkeman is 18. Each of them is facing one count each of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, and mutilation of a corpse. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The murder charge carries a sentence of life in prison. Mutilation of a corpse carries a maximum prison sentence of ten years. Apparently, other people were involved in the brutal murder.

I just want to know what would cause two teenagers to murder another human being with such a chilling degree of malice aforethought. They - or someone else, in concert with them - planned this murder down to the last jot and tittle. They spread a tarp on the floor of the garage, so there would be less blood to clean up. They sawed the head off, thinking a headless body would be harder to identify. They blowtorched the hands and feet, hoping to prevent identification.

And now they have been caught. Was it worth it, guys? Why did you do this? The guy was your friend. The degree of alienation and lack of empathy shown by this casual murder is frightening. Are these kids psychopathic? Sociopathic? What made them turn out this way?

Let's hope that they are not wrongly accused and that if they did commit this terrible crime, they go to jail for life. If they are guilty, they are a danger to their fellow humans.

Fox News has the details here.

Update: What's really upsetting about this story is the reaction to it by commenters on various news sites and blogs. People are thrilled that Sorensen was murdered and decapitated. Are we a country of laws or men?

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