23-year prison sentence in slow cooker beating death

DETROIT -- A Detroit woman who was drunk when she killed a friend with a slow cooker during an argument over politics was sentenced Monday to at least 23 years in prison.

A judge followed the recommended sentence in the plea deal between Tewana Sullivan and prosecutors.

Sullivan, 51, beat Cheryl Livy, 66, with a slow cooker at the victim's Livonia apartment in October.

Sullivan was arrested after officers found Livy severely beaten and unconscious with the power cord of the slow cooker wrapped around her neck, reports CBS Detroit. A police officer reportedly found Sullivan sobbing near her injured friend, saying she was "sorry" she "did it."

Livy died three days later.

Defense attorney John McWilliams said the two had been arguing about the 2016 race for president.

"She is greatly remorseful. She's filled with guilt and shame," he said of Sullivan.

Sullivan's blood-alcohol level was 0.41 - five times the level for drunken driving in Michigan, McWilliams said.

"One was for one major political party and the other was for the other major political party," he said.

In May, facing a first-degree murder trial, Sullivan pleaded guilty but mentally ill to second-degree murder. She'll be eligible for parole after 23 years and will get mental health care in prison. Her maximum sentence is 50 years.

The mental illness plea doesn't affect the prison term itself but provides for prison officials to evaluate her mental health and treat her, reports CBS Detroit.

McWilliams said Sullivan seemed to have second thoughts about the plea deal.

"The judge would hear nothing of it. It was not well-placed because the likelihood of conviction of first-degree murder was great," he said. "And the state wouldn't have to give her mental health care."