The jury foreman in the Jean Pierre Orlewicz murder trial tells Local 4 what happened behind closed doors.

Jerry Maksion is a 22-year-old Eastern Michigan University student studying marketing and criminal justice.

During the last week, he got a real-life lesson in how the criminal justice system works.

Maksion was the jury foreman in the Jean Pierre Orlewicz murder trial.

He led the men and women deciding the fate of a teenager accused of one of the most violent and shocking crimes in Metro Detroit, known as the “Thrill Kill Case.”

Maksion told Local 4, “There was definitely I think, a plot behind it. And I don’t think it was just a thrill kill. I don’t know what possessed him to chop a head off and burn the fingers. But, like I said that’s the part of it I think was premeditated.”

The defendant was accused of beheading and killing Daniel Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge.

The testimony was graphic at times, but Maksion told Local 4 the most compelling moment of the trial was when the jury heard from Orlewicz himself.

“The most interesting part would probably be when he (Orlewicz) had to take the stand. Because it came to the point that so much evidence was against him, that we wanted to hear from him,” Maksion said.

The defense tried to portray Sorensen as a bully and Orlewicz as a victim who simply fought back.

Maksion said that did not work with the jury.

“I didn’t think it was self-defense after hearing a lot of the testimony.”

Many expected a quick verdict, but the jury deliberated for a day and a half.

Maksion said that is because the debate behind closed doors was whether or not Orlewicz was guilty of first- or second-degree murder.

“Our decision was coming down to if this kid were to get out somewhere down the road, would we be able to live with ourselves? And no one wanted to see him released on the streets and have this happen again.” Maksion said when the jury sat down it agreed that Orlewicz was guilty of first-degree murder in the Nov. 7 killing of Sorensen.

Orlewicz, 18, of Plymouth Township, will be sentenced on May 12.

The sentence carries with it a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

His lawyers plan to appeal his first-degree murder conviction.