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A woman charged in a mass murder faced a judge for the first time since testifying against her now-convicted co-defendant. 

Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é spoke with attorneys on both sides about the plea deal that will spare Rhonda Carlson a death sentence. 

Both the prosecution and the defense agreed to the plea deal. It helped them get a key testimony about the murders of Kristen Henderson and four others during Chris Henderson's capital murder trial. 

“We had to have several meetings prior to Chris Henderson’s trial in which we delivered some information and worked out some type of an agreement so that we could move forward in this capacity," said Erin Atkins, Carlson's defense attorney.

Atkins said in order to spare Carlson a possible death sentence, they agreed with the state that if Carlson pleads guilty to her involvement, she would only be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Carlson's co-defendant, Henderson, was found guilty on all 15 counts of capital murder, and a jury recommended he receive the death penalty.

The Madison County Assistant District Attorney, Shauna Barnett, said Carlson facing the death penalty is by no means saying she's innocent.

"She absolutely participated, but from the surveillance video timing like we put out in the Henderson, there’s no way that she could have actively participated in the brutal, just heinous things that happened inside that house," said Barnett. "If you’re looking at who was the worst perpetrator, it’s him. So, that was one of the factors in that. The fact that she was willing to answer some more questions for us, the fact that she actually told investigator Nash what happened."

Barnett said Carlson's cooperation helped the prosecution fill in the blanks for some of the events in that devastating night.

Carlson's plea hearing is set for Sept. 23. She's expected to plead guilty to the capital murder charges.