By David Veselenak

Michigan.com

Standing before Circuit Judge Michael Hathaway Thursday morning, Tewana Sullivan admitted to using a slow cooker to kill Livonia resident Cheryl Livy.

"I hit her with a Crock-Pot," said Sullivan, a 51-year-old resident of Detroit. "I got into an argument with her. I tried to leave, she wouldn't let me leave."

Sullivan accepted a plea deal Thursday morning in Detroit's Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in the case that left Livy, 66, dead several days after she was struck over the head with a slow cooker on Oct. 22, 2014, at Livy's apartment in the McNamara Towers senior living complex in Livonia. As a part of the plea, Sullivan pleaded guilty but mentally ill to second-degree murder. In exchange, the first-degree murder charge was dropped.

With the plea, Sullivan is expected to be sentenced to 23-50 years in prison, as well as undergo psychiatric and mental treatment while in custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections, said John McWilliams, her attorney.

The deal, struck this week between McWilliams and the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, gives Sullivan a chance to get out of prison if she meets certain requirements, something that would not have happened if she had been found guilty of first-degree murder. The mandatory sentence for first-degree murder is life in prison without the possibility of parole.

McWilliams said he's informed Sullivan of the possibility of being released if she meets expectations in prison.

"I assured her of my belief that she will," he said.

'It's very shocking'

The plea comes just two days after her final conference in the case. She was expected to face a jury trial starting Monday morning.

She was evaluated twice for competency in the case, and was found competent both times. The most recent evaluation, revealed earlier this month, found her competent, something McWilliams argued to have dismissed Tuesday. Hathaway declined that motion and continued with the Monday trial date.

McWilliams argued she was unfit for trial due to her high blood alcohol levels taken the night of the incident, as well as several brain surgeries she had done six years ago to correct an aneurysm.

Marvin Jones, Jr., a Livonia resident who lived in a nearby apartment to Livy who was close to both women, said he has a hard time believing Sullivan would kill someone if she were in a right state of mind.

"A person in their right mind wouldn't have done that to her friend," he said. "It's very shocking."

Jones said he remembers the police coming to his apartment first that night, looking for an emergency, but after they asked about Sullivan and Livy, he directed them to her apartment on another floor. He said he remembers seeing Sullivan cry out to him as she was arrested telling him it was a mistake.

He said he's visited her several times while she's been locked up in the Wayne County Jail, and said she's shown remorse.

"She just said she was sorry about everything," he said.

David Veselenak is a reporter for HometownLife.com. Contact him at dveselenak@hometownlife.com, 734-678-6728 or on Twitter: @DavidVeselenak.