DETROIT, Michigan – We are on verdict watch. The jury left at 5 p.m. Tuesday after deliberating for three hours and 40 minutes in the “thrill kill” case of Michigan v. Jean Pierre Orlewicz. There have been several notes from the jury, one of which is very interesting.

The jurors asked if they could learn the sentencing differences between first-degree premeditated murder and second degree murder.

In a polite but firm tone, the judge reminded them they should not be concerned with the years Orlewicz might serve if convicted. The judge expressed her concern that “some of you are considering the penalty here…this is not appropriate.”

Orlewicz is 18 years old and common sense tells me his young age may be on the mind of some of these jurors. Watch his testimony

The jury also asked for the statements of prosecution witness Adam Duwe, the teen Orlewicz said was going to be extorted on November 7, 2007, as well as the statements of Alex Letkemann. Duwe did not give a statement to police and only one statement of Letkemann’s was entered into evidence. The jury has that now. Jurors also asked for and received 10 photos, including two of the body of Dan Sorensen.

The families have been in the courtroom waiting. The Sorensen family seems at ease, talking with close friends. The Orlewicz family seems on edge. Attorneys from both sides are in the well of the courtroom conversing.

The jury resumes deliberations Wednesday at 9 a.m.

– Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK — Law enforcement authorities in New York are deep into a criminal investigation of an act that has shocked and angered New Yorkers. A mass murder? A Wall Street trading scandal? An international drug ring? No, something far more sinister.

Construction workers unearth the rival jersey.

The law enforcement folks are deciding whether the construction worker who buried a Red Sox jersey in concrete at the site of the new Yankee Stadium should be prosecuted for his acts.

Really? Whatever happened to the legendary New York sense of humor? How often have we heard about the unfortunate shrinking of law enforcement resources and the resultant difficulties in pursuing real criminal conduct? Does this act (pretty clever, actually) really warrant prosecution?

Look, I’m a Yankee fan and the notion of yet another curse that could possibly have an impact on the Red Sox rivalry is not something that I’d welcome. But the fact is that the fiendish plot was discovered and the offending jersey was dug up and removed. The new stadium is safe!

Maybe Yankee officials and law enforcement people would be better off focusing on minor league development or trades that will enhance the Bombers chances of knocking off the Red Sox this year, rather than trying to figure out some way to prosecute the construction worker. Or better still, maybe they can all get together to figure out a way to bury a Derek Jeter jersey deep within the Green Monster of Fenway.

– Jack Ford, In Session anchor

DETROIT, Michigan — Well, it finally happened like a lot of local attorneys predicted it would: Jean Pierre Orlewicz took the stand in his own defense Monday and testified that he feared for his life.

The way Orlewicz told it, alleged victim Daniel Sorensen pointed a gun at former codefendant and star prosecution witness Alex Letkemann, but said he wanted to kill Orlewicz.  At one point, Orlewicz testified, Sorensen aimed the gun at him.

It all took place in the defendant’s grandfather’s garage on November 7, 2007. Orlewictz testified he and Daniel Sorensen were going to try to rob another teen of some money that Wednesday.  Orlewicz said he decided to foil the plan when Sorensen appeared to be gaining control of the situation.

Orlewicz directed a lot of his testimony toward the jury as they listened intently to his every word. Jurors who normally wrote notes sat with notebooks on their laps and just listened to the 18-year-old defendant. Some jurors were expressionless but the looks on the faces of the others seemed to say, “Let’s hear what you have to say…” Watch the testimony

On cross examination, prosecutor Robert Moran got the defendant to admit continually stabbing Sorensen even after the gun was out of the victim’s hand and out of Orewicz’s sight. The defendant admitted severing Sorenson’s head, torching his fingertips and burning the 26-year-old man’s body so he would not be able to be identified.

On cross examination, prosecutors brought in audio tapes of jail house phone calls between the defendant and his parents. Jurors heard Orlewicz tell his mother, “So what’s the defense here? My attorney tells me I have no defense.” They also heard Orlewicz sternly tell his mother: “I’m not going to do any time for this…”

These audio tapes came in because they show the defendant’s state of mind and there is no confidential privilege between a mother and son.

Closing arguments are under way.

– Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK — Here’s what we know about Naveed Haq:

Jami Floyd starts the week with the Last Word.

He was born in Ohio in 1975 to Pakistani immigrants. He excelled academically as a child, and in high school was accepted into an accelerated college program. That’s when the problems began. Depression, a suicide attempt, hearing voices.

By the time he was 20, Haq was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Later, schizo-affective disorder was added to the diagnosis. Haq suffered from mania, hallucinations and the belief that he could broadcast his thoughts. He believed he could to go back in time and shift between dimensions, levels and worlds.

We also know that on July 28, 2006, Naveed Haq shot and killed one woman and badly injured five others at the Jewish Federation Headquarters in Washington. Read more

But this was not a hate crime, because this defendant has a long history of mental illness, not a long history of anti-Semitism. As is all too often the case, our mental health system failed these victims, just as it failed Naveed Haq.

And that is the Last Word.

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK – Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is behind bars but his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is going strong, with 10,000 members. This, despite 165 years of intolerance for these people who engage in a very different form of faith.

That’s why the latest raid in Texas raises the question of religious freedom. The FLDS counsels young women to “give themselves to their husbands.” And we all know these folks are far from your run of the mill congregation.

Authorities claim that this latest raid comes on the heels of a 16-year-old girl claiming she’d been married to a 50-year-old man. In Texas, a girl that young can’t marry, even with her parents’ permission. But so far, the girl hasn’t turned up. And hundreds of women and children have been rousted from their homes.

If a crime was committed, by all means prosecute. But to target religious people for practicing the tenets of their faith, well, in this lawyer’s opinion that’s not prosecution, it’s persecution.

And that’s the Last Word. Watch the Last Word on video

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

DETROIT, Michigan — I want to take you inside the courtroom of State of Michigan v Jean Pierre Orlewicz, the so-called thrill-kill murder trial. The courtroom is not that big and at various times families of the defendant, former co-defendant and victim have all been there together, making for a full house.

Alex Letkemann, the former co-defendant of Orlewicz, took the stand this week as the prosecution’s star witness. According to Letkemann he was with Orlewicz every step of the way as the defendant stabbed Daniel Sorenson to death and beheaded him.

During his testimony, Letkemann’s family was in the back row of the courtroom as well as teen friends of the witness. They all sat close together and I saw Letkemann’s mother softly smile at him during moments when the jury wasn’t present and when testimony was not being taken. Watch the testimony

Orlewicz’s parents are also there and they too have their teen supporters, who appear to be friends of the defendant himself. They also sit huddled together in court.

And finally members of Daniel Sorensen’s family steadfastly sit day after day looking for justice. Friends of Daniel Sorensen sit with his parents but say many cannot be there because they have been subpoenaed as witnesses. While Letkemann was describing the slaying of their son and friend, their emotions were almost overwhelming.

I also see the families huddling into individual prayer circles outside of the courtroom at the beginning and end of the day. Their faith appears to be helping to get them through what must be one of the toughest times of their lives.

The jury is composed now of 9 men and 4 women. One juror has been removed for cause because of a workplace association with the defendant’s family. Although two female jurors became visibly distraught during Letterman’s gruesome testimony, for the most part, jurors focus with intensity, writing notes from time to time.

– Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

WASHINGTON — Is this trip necessary?

By that I mean the sad, sordid procession of former call girls and humiliated “Johns” that constitute the ongoing prostitution trial in the District of Columbia known as the “D.C. Madam” case.

In this first week of the prosecution’s case against Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the dominant question is not whether prosecutors are proving that Palfrey operated an escort service that was a front for prostitution, but why they have pursued this expensive case against her when scores of “full service” escort services continue to operate full blast in the nation’s capital.

So far, the testimony has been titillating and embarrassing, but has not produced the political big names that some had hoped. Former “escorts” (who had been granted immunity and forced to testify) gave sheepish accounts of performing various sex acts for pay. Two local attorneys told of paying Palfrey’s employees for sex (one lawyer was a repeat customer when he was a student at Yale law school), then the two men pulled their coats over their heads to disguise their humiliation as they departed the court house.

The prosecutors have produced considerable evidence that some of Palfrey’s escorts engaged in sex for money, despite a clause in their contracts with her that said if they committed any illegal acts, they would be fired. The key issue will be whether prosecutors can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Palfrey knew some of her girls were selling sex.

But the most perplexing question is why the prosecutors are pursuing this case. They have given no indication that the “DC Madam” case is part of a broader campaign against prostitution by the thriving escort business. No similar cases have been brought. Palfrey’s attorneys claim they are punishing her for giving them a hard time in an unrelated case. The government should not prosecute a citizen for such a reason, and if the prosecutors have a proper reason, they should declare what it is.

– Fred Graham, In Session senior editor

DETROIT, Michigan – The forensic aspects of Michigan v. Jean Pierre Orlewicz are key to this particularly gruesome murder case. Daniel Sorensen, 26, was stabbed multiple times and decapitated. His torso was then set on fire.

There are three crime scenes, and each one offers unique questions about the science of killing, decapitating and burning a body.

The first crime scene, according to prosecutors, is within the defendant’s grandfather’s garage. This is where they say the stabbing death took place, as well as Sorensen’s decapitation and the torching of his fingerprints.

The second crime scene is a cul-de-sac in a partially developed subdivision. This is where Sorensen’s torso was dumped and set on fire with gasoline.

The third crime scene is a river on the outskirts of Detroit, where the victim’s head was deposited.

I visited these three crime scenes with forensic pathologist Dr. Daniel Spitz.  Watch his analysis of the crime, which may include issues not raised in court.

– Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK – The jury deadlocked in the case against Cyril Wecht. That’s right, one of the country’s most famous forensic pathologists in a criminal courtroom — not as a witness, but as the defendant.

Cyril Wecht faces another trial after his jury deadlocked.

Dr. Wecht isn’t just a TV talker, he’s the coroner in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, or at least he was until this case convinced him that public office wasn’t worth the hassle.

Dr. Wecht has always been a lightning rod. But now he’s a target — of the federal government. Even after eleven days of deliberations, jurors could not find Wecht guilty on even one of 41 charges of petty misuse of funds and county resources. Read more

Still, the feds plan to prosecute Dr. Wecht all over again. But here’s the thing, in this defense attorney’s opinion: Selective prosecution is illegal in this country. And the jury knew it.

So those who would prosecute Cyril Wecht should remember where they work — at a department called Justice. And justice requires that they drop the case against Cyril Wecht.

That is the Last Word. Watch the Last Word

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

DETROIT, Michigan – It is hard to imagine being Daniel Sorensen’s parents. On November 8, Jim and Kim Sorensen learned their son had been stabbed multiple times, decapitated and burned over 80 percent of his body.

Shortly after that, their son’s friend J.P. Orlewicz and another young man were charged with the murder. The pain must still be so fresh with them both. I met Kim Sorensen today and told her I was very sorry for her loss. She smiled but seemed on the verge of great emotion.

From a legal standpoint, it will be be very interesting to watch the defense in this case. The claim is that Orlewicz acted in lawful self defense, that the defendant honestly and reasonably believed that he was in danger of being killed. Even if it turned out later that he was wrong, if Orlewicz’s belief was honest and reasonable he can be found not guilty of the crime of murder.

So far, we’ve heard from schoolmate Alex Mullins, who testified that on November 6 he helped Orlewicz put tarps up on the windows of his grandfather’s garage and across the floor. He told the jury Orlewicz told him he was going to kill Sorensen because he didn’t like him. He told the jury he wanted no part of it, and didn’t participate. Watch his testimony

Lisa Chen, a cashier from ACO Hardware Store, testified that the day before Orlewicz purchased one bottle of Drano mid-afternoon, then he came back through about an hour later and bought three more bottles.

The prosecution is trying to show through this evidence the premeditation and planning that went into the execution of this crime.

I see where the defense will be going with regard to the Drano. Those containers of Drano were later found in Orlewciz’s truck after it was impounded. On cross-examination, the defense questioned Detective William Helke: “You don’t know if those containers were ever even opened.” But how will the defense get around the tarps? We will all watch that together.

If you think this is a slam dunk case for the prosecution, think again.

Do you remember the Robert Durst case in Galveston, Texas? Morris Black, the victim, was shot to death and his body was then mutilated just like the body of Daniel Sorensen.

The defense in that case was the same. Durst himself took the stand and told the jury of the struggle he had with Black that he was in fear for his life and consequently shot Black dead. Durst also admitted he panicked after killing Black and so he cut up the body.

The jury found Durst not guilty of the murder, but guilty for desecration of the body. He served a relatively short prison term, which included time already served, and was released (only to go back to prison for a parole violation).

If this case parallels Durst, then Orlewicz will take the stand. Only time will tell, but this young defendant’s state of mind is critical to the defense case.

– Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent