FLINT – Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said convicted murderer Cedric Thomas Hendrickson, 26, of Burton, received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole today along with a stern rebuke from the Judge during the sentencing hearing.
Last month, a jury found Hendrickson guilty of all 20 counts charged against him including the murder of his girlfriend’s sister related to a fatal shooting incident that occurred on January 11, 2023 in Mt. Morris.
Prosecutor Leyton said the judge’s sentence for each of the five related counts of assault with the intent to murder included a prison sentence of 50-100 years.
“Although the defendant had already received mandatory life in prison without parole for the murder charge, the sentence of 50-100 years for each of the AWIM counts was one of the harshest I’ve seen but clearly warranted, in my opinion,” Leyton said.
According to testimony at trial, police were dispatched to the Harvard Apartments building in the City of Mt. Morris just before 7 p.m. on January 11, 2023 after a call to 9-1-1 reported that a person had just been shot.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the caller kneeling next to her sister who was lying unresponsive on the floor. The victim was identified as Mallory Dunnivant, 35, and she was later pronounced dead from gunshot wounds.
According to trial testimony, Hendrickson and Dunnivant’s sister, who had a child in common with Hendrickson, had just broken up the week prior to the shooting and the two continued to argue by phone and texts over the course of the week concerning their breakup and other matters.
The evening of the shooting, Hendrickson and his new girlfriend drove around looking for his ex-girlfriend and they went to Dunnivant’s apartment building where they suspected they might find her. At the apartment building, Hendrickson was in the parking lot and got into a shouting match with his ex-girlfriend who was at the window of Mallory’s third floor apartment along with Mallory. Five young children were also present inside the apartment. After a period of time, Hendrickson got into his new girlfriend’s car and as they began to pull away, Hendrickson fired 11 shots at the apartment window and Mallory was struck and killed.
“This was an absolutely tragic and senseless incident that took the life of a young mother, a beloved sister and daughter, and by all counts a person loved by many in the Mt. Morris community through her work as a paraprofessional at a nearby elementary school,” Prosecutor Leyton said back in December after the jury’s verdict was read.
The jury convicted Hendrickson of first-degree premeditated murder, five counts of assault with intent to murder, thirteen related firearm charges and one count of domestic violence.
