LANSING, Mich. (TCN) — A 45-year-old man has been convicted of first-degree murder and torture in connection with a fatal 2022 stabbing.
On Jan. 5, 2022, Gregory Michael Sanders stabbed 28-year-old Dominique Hawn to death, the Lansing State Journal reports. He was found guilty on April 15 of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder, torture, and related counts, and will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Three days after Hawn’s death, on Jan. 8, 2022, Sanders was arrested after a 10-hour police standoff in which he shot a gun from various locations in his house after being told to drop his weapon, according to WLNS. He was finally arrested when he surrendered to police. Police initially responded to the home after receiving reports of gunfire and Sanders barricading himself in the home, WILX reports.
Following the standoff, police found Hawn’s body in the basement, the Lansing State Journal reports. Hawn been stabbed more than 200 times and had a slash on her face that stretched from ear to ear. AOL reports she was covered by a shower curtain behind a marijuana plant and had been dead for days.
Sanders recorded much of attack with his phone, the Lansing State Journal reports, and some of those recordings were played for the jury. In the recordings, Sanders can be heard accusing Hawn of trying to set him up by working with federal authorities and threatening to shoot her in the eye while Hawn begs for her life.
Sanders’ team mounted an insanity defense, according to the Lansing State Journal.
In court, Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Sarah Pulda said, “[Hawn’s] life was violently stolen from her in the grimy bathroom of a flophouse when she was 28 years old.”
Hawn’s obituary reads, “She was so ambitious and outgoing and would give anything she absolutely could to help those that needed her even if she needed it more. Dominique always had this energy about her that came through that beautiful smile of hers. She truly could light up a room with that smile and laughter. She was such a beautiful soul through and through. She found strength in struggles to get through today and be strong for tomorrow.”
According to the Lansing State Journal, Sanders is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27.
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