Watch CBS News

Woman Faces Sentencing In Politics-Fueled Drunken Killing

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A woman who authorities say killed a friend with a slow cooker during a political dispute in suburban Detroit while very drunk faces sentencing.

Tewana Sullivan is expected to learn her punishment Monday. She was awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge when she pleaded guilty but mentally ill last month to second-degree murder. A deal with prosecutors calls for 23 to 50 years in prison.

Tewana Sullivan
Tewana Sullivan (Booking photo)

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

The 51-year-old woman told the judge Thursday that she and her 66-year-old friend, Cheryl Livy, came to blows at Livy's Livonia apartment Oct. 22.

"I got into an argument with her," Sullivan said. "I tried to leave but she wouldn't let me leave. We were hitting each other. … I was a little bit harder at hitting her than she was at hitting me. I hit her with a Crock-Pot … in her head and all over." Livy was armed with a smaller cooking pot, Sullivan said.

Sullivan was arrested after officers found Livy severely beaten and unconscious, with the power cord of the slow cooker wrapped around her neck. A police officer said he found Sullivan sobbing near her injured friend and saying she was "sorry" she "did it." Livy was rushed to a local hospital where she died three days later.

According to defense lawyer John McWilliams, Sullivan's blood-alcohol level was 0.41 percent. That's more than five times the 0.08 percent level for drunken driving in Michigan.

 

TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.