POCATELLO — A Pocatello woman charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of her brother last July has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Kristina May Juarez, 43, who was originally accused of second-degree murder for stabbing her brother Michael Christensen to death at a Jefferson Avenue home last summer, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Friday as part of a binding plea agreement. She could end up serving as little as three years in prison for the killing as part of the plea deal.

“The state is amending the charge to involuntary manslaughter on the basis of Mrs. Juarez entering a guilty plea,” said Juarez’s public defender Dave Martinez at a Friday court hearing. “We are submitting a rule 11 agreement to the court which contemplates the court sentencing her to three years fixed and seven years indeterminate.”

Rule 11 is a rule of the Idaho Criminal Rules of Procedure that lays out the procedures and rules for plea agreements and guilty pleas in criminal cases.

Both the defense and prosecution teams consented to a binding rule 11 plea agreement in the case. So Judge Mitchell W. Brown does not have the discretion to hand down a different sentence than what has been agreed to by the parties. But he still has discretion to reject the plea agreement.

Brown conditionally approved the plea deal after ensuring Juarez understood her rights and the terms and conditions of the agreement. But Brown said he would wait to sign the document so that a pre-sentencing investigation report can be completed.

“You would be afforded the right to withdraw your guilty plea if I indicated to you prior to announcing your judgement that I was not willing to be bound by this agreement,” Judge Brown said to Juarez.

Brown added that throughout previous court proceedings Juarez and her attorneys asserted that certain constitutional rights of Juarez were violated in this case.

Brown recently refused to throw out the second-degree murder charge after Juarez’s public defenders sought to dismiss the case when they learned that a deputy prosecutor accessed and reviewed a recorded conversation between Juarez and the Public Defender’s Office.

Juarez is being held at the Bannock County Jail and the call was recorded by the jail’s phone system.

“You understand that any other constitutional rights that may or may not have been raised by counsel in this matter by proceeding with your guilty plea today will likely be waived,” Brown said to Juarez.

A sentence of three years fixed and seven years indeterminate means that Juarez will serve at least three years in prison before she is eligible for parole.

Juarez will be back in court on Aug. 18 for sentencing. If Brown rejects the plea agreement she could face 10 years in prison or a fine of $10,000.