Separate from the gruesome crime itself, from the court room tapes I have personally viewed the defendent should invest in a better defense lawyer. The testimonies provided only further incriminate his client and are quite frankly, making the decision for the jury quite obvious. What do television, movies and music have to do with any of this? I highly doubt those are the ingredients to a terrible crime like this one. If so, than I suppose that all teenagers should start pre meditating murders because they listen to music, watch tv and maybe play videogames. The cause of this lies within the defendent himself, its time to stop blaming entertainment influences on your lack of morality. I find it highly unlikey that the super mario brothers conveyed that you should decapitate a 26year old man but if they did, maybe we should put Mario and Luigi on trial.

Jean, I love this judge, they left the sound on
after the jury left and she admonished the
Defense attorney for “staring ” at juror’s as
they left yesterday. He questioned - what juror
complained, she said it wasn’t a juror, her staff
watches over the jurors. So she asked that
they give the juror’s time to get out of the court
house before leaving.
He was pushing her today. He knew that the perjury charge, was only if the witness failed to tell the truth, as per the plea bargain, isn’t that in every plea bargain?
His wanting to make a record, was way out of
order…. not like the TV judges, he have had
free room and board tonight.

.

This is a riveting, though Disgusting, case! What I have found very odd, is that almost every witness, thus far has basically had a flat or blunted affect, save Dan’s Mother. It is particularly disturbing, that all of those teenagers appear to be SO nonchalant over this. I have two teenagers, and posed the questions “What would you do if a friend asked you to help get rid of a body?” “Or asked you to help lift a dead body up onto a truck?” They replied they would take their friend to the Police station. I don’t think their attitudes have to anything to do with Video games, movies or music. Though with that entire group of teenaged witnesses thus far… it makes me wonder if it’s something in the water.

Does JP take the stand himself?

You might want to show some of the footage between the defense and the judge yesterday evening before they closed for the day.
She jacked him pretty well on the perjury charges.

Why does the defendant (JP) sit in such an akward position where he has to crane is body to see the judge. It appears he is sitting sidewards and his lawyers are looking forward?

at first i wasn’t interested in this trial because of the gruesomeness
but i’ve become interested because the way the lawyers and judge
have conducted themselves, much impressed. so far everyone of the witnesses look so young and babyface. is our society in trouble, after
all these are our future adults who will someday run this country and
examples for an even younger generation.

Thanks,
excellent coverage as usual

Why are these teenagers hanging around a 26 year old man?

Where are the parents of all these children?

Where was the grandfather?

Where does the $3,000.00 come into play? Did J. P. owe it to Dan or did Dan owe it to J. P.? If Dan owed it to J. P., where did J. P. come up with $3,000.00 to lend to him?

R. S., NE

is this defense attorney nuts!!! he may have persuaded the jury of being afraid of dan sorenson and claiming self defense if this so called “afraid” boy didnt dismember a deceased body. that clearly is the mind of a sicko and not a timid fearful boy

What a joke - is this defense attorney for real? The attorney for this boy is helping the state. What is he thinking. This boy is guilty of a premeditated MURDER and if he thinks self defense will fly, he is out of his mind! I guess that beheading a dead man shows an act of self defense. This is not only laughable but insain. Some one needs to think about this dead man. This poor family having to sit and listen to all the details of their dead sons brutial muder and the fact that self defense is even an option after beheading a dead man!!!!!! Come on this is in poor taste. This boy is guilty and no one can say otherwise. Self defense, my ass!

I cannot believe this judge hasn’t warned the defense attorney he’s in danger of being held in contempt, and then the attorney had the gall to say at one point yesterday, “You’re walking all over me judge,” He’s been given more leeway than any reasonable person, let alone a judge would ever be expected to grant.
Speaking of unbelieveable, we’ve got one of the most compelling trials the network has ever had, which raises countless questions about young high school aged males, and affects all of us who are parents of kids of any age…and yet you choose to show this nonsense clown O.J. SIMPSON and company, and its not even fresh material. GET OFF IT. PLEASE!

i think all them kids knew what was gonna go down

I agree w/Kara—seems like a slam-dunk for the prosecution. Self-defense w/a decapitation, burning of the finger tips, burning of the rest of the body AND tossing the head into a river? It’s obviously a complete cover-up of a gruesome, premeditated killing.

Finally, what kind of friends are these that have no qualms about helping him remove the body parts and clean up the crime scene? Did it ever occur to any of them that they should have instead run to the nearest police precinct and told them the crime that just occurred? They never once thought, “Hey, I’m an accessory after the murder?”

Through more & more of the Prosecutions’ Witnesses - this Victim, Dan Sorensen, is looking more like a Bully who frequently used his intimidation tactics towards many people.

I could not figure out what a 26y/o man would have in common with all of these young kids, but now I’m starting to understand why this Victim, at 26y/o was hanging-out with 16y/o-17y/o-18y/o high school students . . . . Dan Sorensen knew these kids were easily intimidated & equally impressionable by someone who was 10 years older than themselves.

According to the Prosecution - Examples of Dan Sorensen:

- Told these kids he was “Connected” to the Mafia only to be found out a few months later that the Victim was never “connected.”

- Borrowed money from these kids; then refused to pay them back

- Introduced guns to these kids as he frequently carried a gun on himself in addition to knives, as well

- Used stolen property as partial payment for a loan he owed to these kids

- Used extortion attempts at gun-point to gain money from these kids

These acts by the Victim, Dan Sorensen, were all brought out by the Prosecutor. Of course, this does not mean the Victim deserved to die - Let alone, die a brutal death. But, it sure gives credence to the Defendant for why the Defendant did not like the Victim & felt slighted by the Victim.

It’s somewhat ironic that it was the Victim himself, who for several years took advantage of & intimidated these young kids due to his large age-difference & their young impressionable-minds, was the one who ended up getting beaten-up. Unfortunately for many, it went much further than that !!

.

If you don’t mind my saying it, and for no personal reasons whatsoever, I thought your interview with the medical examiner was horrifying and absolutely ridiculous for the following reasons. Not only do you tell us in great detail how to commit a gruesome murder, but you assure us it can be performed with relative ease and, with the help a few over-the-counter precautions and a good river to throw the head in, with little risk of ever getting caught. Thanks.

“And had they not had specific information as to where to look for the, uh, remains, I don’t think they ever would have found it…”

Daniel Spitz, M.D.
Macomb County Medical Examiner

Jean- After thinking about the time frame of 2004 I started thinking about the picture of the beheading. Wasn’t this around the time that Daniel Pearl’s beheading was posted on the internet by terrorists?
I wonder if that is what intriged this kid about beheading someone, rather than a video game. Seems that beheading started being common place around then.

These are the Stepford kids!! No emotion - no articulation - no conscience.

Who is the guy in the courtroom sitting between the witness stand and the defense table? And what is that covering his mouth and nose ? Very disconcerting. Why is there no room for the defendant to sit behind the table? Why is there not a proper witness stand to place papers or documents on when testifying instead of their lap? A very strange layout !

I am still unclear as to why the Asham friend was able to help load a body and get away with it? Why was Mullins not charged either for his involvement and knowledge of this crime? I also do not believe the father when he said that he did not ask J.P. whether or not he was guilty, the first night his shoes were taken. If he really did not ask, and just started looking for a lawyer what does this say about their relationship?

This trial is amazing. Having watched most of it on TV, or ccn.com/crime, I am leaning towards believing the kid did believe, in his mind, that the victim did pose a real threat to the defendant. Where he lost me was in the aftermath with the beheading and all. Even if you could, which would be VERY hard, find him innocent in the murder, via self defense, what do you do about the beheading and all of the abuse to the body. There is no way you can let that slide. I am also surprised they made a deal with his prior co-defendant, what did he bring to the case? I think a lot of those kids should have been charged with something.