WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. -- Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 18, of Plymouth Township, will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the Nov. 7 killing of Daniel Sorenson, 26, of River Rouge. Wayne County Circuit Judge Annette Berry sentenced Orlewicz Monday morning following a speech in which she asked the defendant why he would take the life of another man.

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Orlewicz didn't speak in court Monday on the advice of his lawyer, who said he plans to appeal the conviction.

During sentencing, Berry told Orlewicz: "I am grateful that you are going away for the rest of your life, because in my view I believe you would kill again."

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has said that Orlewicz killed Sorensen, then cut off his head and burned his torso for the thrill of it.

Orlewicz's defense attorney claimed that the killing was in self-defense and the mutilation of Sorensen's body was done in a panic over possible reprisals by Sorensen's alleged mob-connected family.

Berry, however, said she did not buy the defense claim that the killing was an act of self-defense and that the later mutilation of the victim's body was done for the thrill of it.

"This was an act of evil," Berry said. "And it was an act calculated so that you could see exactly what it was to kill another human being and then do the terrible, terrible acts to this man's body after you killed him."

The automatic life sentence also included a sentence of 4-10 years for mutilating a corpse.

As Orlewicz was led from the courtroom, his mother shouted, "We love you, John. You're our boy."

Orlewicz testified during his trial that he decapitated the victim and burned his fingers to hide his identity because he feared the man had mobster relatives who would come after him.

"No remorse, no concern for what he did. You have to wonder what is inside an individual that seemingly had everything. OK? Everything and threw it all away," said Jim Sorensen, father of the victim.

However, during closing arguments last month, defense attorney Joseph Niskar asked the jury to consider the "fear factor" that he said came into play when Orlewicz brought a knife to a gunfight, knowing that his alleged victim carried a gun and was twice his size. Sorensen was 6 feet tall and 280 pounds.

There was no premeditation, no time to plan in advance, Niskar said. There was only a plan to set the stage for an extortion plot that went wrong.

Prosecutor Robert Moran painted a different picture in his closing arguments – one of a person who had time to reflect on what he was doing, thus deserving the charge of premeditated murder.

Moran pointed out that Orlewicz stabbed Sorensen 13 times while the victim held up his hands to fend off the blows. Enough time would have passed, Moran said, for Orlewicz to have weighed the pros and cons of what he was doing.

Moran also said that the felony murder count should stick, since Orlewicz also stole the victim's gun after the killing – after he threw away the bloody rags from removing Sorensen's head, burning his fingertips and then lighting the body on fire.