Students Capture Attack on Teacher on Video

the video of the teacher beating is below

Baltimore, Maryland (CNN, WBAL) -- A shocking video of a female student attacking an art teacher and recording the assault on a cell phone at Reginald F. Lewis High School in Baltimore is causing a stir among both the community and the school.

Art teacher Jolita Berry says she was beaten by a female student as others stood and watched last Friday. One student even captured the assault on video with a cell phone.

"It's just frustrating," says Berry, "Too many times has it happened at this school and other schools, and nothing's being done."

Berry says the video later showed up on MySpace.com.

"It's like we're not important," Berry says, "It's like we don't matter."

The art teacher says she asked the student to sit down, and she says a "relentless assault" is what followed.

"I looked over, and her friends were cheering her on," Berry says, "And before I knew it, she hit me in the face."

Teachers later broke up the fight. Berry thought she could turn to her principal for help, but after a little consoling, the art teacher felt like the school was on the side of the student.

"On one hand she [Lewis High School's principal] told me that she was sorry for me that this happened to me," Berry says, "But then she turned right around and told me that telling the student that I was going to defend myself was a 'trigger word.' That I 'triggered' them."

Berry says she and other teachers at her school feel like they are at a loss, feeling the schools they teach in are not safe, they just hope the Baltimore City School System is watching the tape.

"No learning place should be this violent," Berry said.

The chief of Baltimore City school police said he had not been notified about the attack, but would investigate.





Source:http://www.wltx.com

Friend testifies Orlewicz talked about killing Dan Sorensen "weeks earler"

Friend testifies Orlewicz talked about killing Sorensen "weeks earler"

By Brad Kadrich

OBSERVER STAFF WRITER

In his opening statement Monday, defense attorney Joseph Niskar told jurors in the trial of Jean Pierre Orlewicz that the death of 26-year-old Daniel Sorensen was an act of self-defense followed by a panicked attempt by a frightened teenager to cover the whole thing up.

But a witness testified Tuesday the idea of killing Sorensen occurred to Orlewicz weeks before the Nov. 7 murder, an idea that stemmed from the defendant's dislike of the victim, who allegedly owed Orlewicz $400.

Alex Mullins, a friend of Orlewicz who initially denied any involvement in the crime, said on the witness stand Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court he stood "lookout" outside the Canton Township garage of Orlewicz's grandfather during an aborted murder attempt the day before the actual killing.

Orlewicz is charged with first-degree murder, felony murder and mutilation of a dead body in the death of Sorensen, a 26-year-old River Rouge man who died Nov. 7. Police say Dan Sorensen was lured to the Canton Township garage of Orlewicz's grandfather, where they say the murder took place.

Sorensen's decapitated and burned body was found the next day in a Northville Township field. His head was found in the Rouge River a couple of days later.

If convicted, Orlewicz, a Canton High School senior, faces life in prison without parole.

Teen testifies

Mullins testified the death was actually supposed to take place Nov. 6, and Orlewicz asked him to be the lookout in case his (Orlewicz's) father showed up. Mullins said Orlewicz helped him cover garage windows with a "somewhat worn" tarp, and that Orlewicz covered the garage floor "with a blue tarp ... it looked new."

Under questioning from Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Moran, Mullins said he first heard Orlewicz talk about killing Sorensen "weeks earlier."

"He said he wanted to stab him ... bag him in a tarp ... and hang him upside down burning," Mullins testified. "JP told (former co-defendant Alexander Letkemann) and me that (Sorensen) owed him money and he was angry about it."

Police say Orlewicz abandoned the idea of killing Sorensen on Nov. 6 because Dan Sorensen had been dropped off by his girlfriend, who would then have been a witness to Sorensen's last whereabouts.

After the failed plan on Tuesday, Mullins said Orlewicz asked him to come back the next day (Nov. 7), but Mullins testified he decided not to.

"At first I wasn't objecting, but eventually I ... decided I didn't want to be part of it," Mullins said.

Mullins admitted on the stand Tuesday he had initially lied to police about his involvement, but told the truth when Canton police questioned him in the wake of a plea accepted by ,'s former co-defendant, Westland teenager Alexander Letkemann.

Letkemann pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and mutilation of a corpse in return for his testimony. At sentencing later this month, Letkemann is expected to be sentenced to 20-30 years on the second-degree murder and 10 years on the mutilation, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Mullins admitted Letkemann's plea was a factor in his decision to admit his involvement. He said he didn't tell the truth initially because "I was scared and didn't want to get dragged into it."

Girlfriend takes stand

Other witnesses testified about Sorensen's movements the day of his death. Girlfriend Breanna Milowe, 21, of Redford said Sorensen told her he had to "meet JP" the afternoon of Nov. 7, and arranged to see each other again later that evening when Milowe got out of class. The pair met about a month before Sorensen's death after having met using Myspace.com.

Ashleigh Scarlett, 23 of Livonia testified she and Sorensen shared some fast food at the Subway restaurant at which Scarlett worked. Scarlett testified Sorensen left shortly after 3 p.m., saying he had to "meet with JP."

She testified Sorensen told her he and "JP" were going to get $3,000 from an unidentified friend of JP's. Sorensen told Scarlett "they owed it" to them.

When asked if "JP" was in the courtroom, both Milowe and Scarlett identified Orlewicz.

The first two days of testimony saw lawyers for both sides follow the path they each mapped out in their opening statements. Moran Monday called the murder a premeditated act that was the result of a well-thought-out, deliberate plan.

Defense attorney Niskar called Sorensen's death an act of self-defense and a case of panic in its aftermath. Niskar called Orlewicz "a loving son, a loving brother, a loving friend" and said the teenager acted in self-defense after an angry Sorensen, upset that the intended victim of the extortion hadn't shown up, pulled a gun on Orlewicz.

"It was never a plan to kill (Sorensen)," Niskar told jurors. "It was a plan to extort money. (Sorensen) pulled a gun on (Orlewicz), a fight ensued and in self-defense (Sorensen) was killed."

Niskar painted the victim, Sorensen, as someone who carried a gun and a knife, and tried to "influence teenagers ... into his world of crime, into his world of drugs."

It was a tough thing for Sorensen's parents, James and Kimberly Sorensen of Westland, to hear.

"It's hard," James Sorensen admitted. "There are two sides to everything, and we just have to deal with that. We just want (the jury) to listen."

Assistant Wayne County Medical Examiner Dr. Leigh Hlavaty testified Sorensen had suffered 13 stab wounds prior to his death. Two of the wounds — one to the chest that pierced the heart and another to the upper abdomen that struck the liver — likely combined to cause Sorensen's death, she said.

She also said the lack of soot in Sorensen's airway indicated his body — 80 percent of which was badly burned — had been burned after his death.

Hlavaty also testified there were no drugs or alcohol in Sorensen's system at the time of his death.

bkadrich@hometownlife.com | (734) 459-2700