'Crock-Pot Killer' Gets 23 Years for Deadly Political Spat

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A Detroit woman dubbed the “Crock-Pot killer” after she fatally bludgeoned her longtime friend with a slow cooker in an argument over politics was sentenced Monday to at least 23 years in prison.

Tewana Sullivan, 51, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to second-degree murder charges last month in connection with the death of Cheryl Livy, 66, in Livy’s Livonia apartment on Oct. 22, 2014.

She received the minimum sentence possible, and could have faced up to 50 years in prison.

Sullivan’s attorney, John McWilliams, said the two women were arguing over the 2016 race for president. Sullivan had a blood-alcohol level of 0.41, five times the legal limit for drunken driving in Michigan, when the attack occurred.

Related Links:

• Police: Woman Killed Friend with Slow Cooker in Political Spat
• Competency Exam Ordered for Accused Crock-Pot Killer
• ‘Crock-Pot Killer’ Takes Plea Deal

“I got into an argument with her. I tried to leave but she wouldn’t let me leave,” Sullivan told Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hathaway last month when her plea was entered. “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 also was armed with cookware, a small cooking pot, though Sullivan never claimed she was acting in self-defense.

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