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Traci Lee Vaillancourt on Tuesday accepted a plea agreement in connection with her part in the 2013 shooting death of Draper police Sgt. Derek Johnson.
Vaillancourt, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree felony obstructing justice for allegedly lying to investigators about what happened the day of the shooting, Sept. 1, 2013.
She pleaded no contest Tuesday to reduced third-degree felony counts of obstructing justice.
The pleas will be held in abeyance for 36 months, at which time 3rd District Judge Bruce Lubeck said he would consider amending the counts to class A misdemeanors, rather than granting a full dismissal of the case, as usually occurs with a plea in abeyance.
Earlier this year, Vaillancourt's boyfriend, Timothy Troy Walker, 35, pleaded guilty to aggravated murder for fatally shooting Johnson and was sentenced to life without parole — a deal that allowed him to avoid a possible death penalty conviction.
Walker also shot and wounded Vaillancourt, before shooting himself in the jaw in a failed suicide bid.
Vaillancourt's attorney, Matthew Kober, said in a written statement: "Traci's plea reflects her desire to end what has been an incredibly difficult process for both her and the Johnson family. As a no contest plea allows, Traci maintains her innocence, as she has done throughout the course of this case.
"However, she recognizes the need for closure and the need to start a new chapter of her life. Traci was also a victim of violence last September. Through sheer luck and the skill of surgeons at Intermountain Medical Center, Traci survived Timothy Troy Walker's attempt on her own life during the shooting that killed Sgt. Johnson."
Kober said Vaillancourt, who has been held at the Salt Lake County jail, was to be released immediately.
At a September preliminary hearing, the lead detective in the case testified that Vaillancourt changed her story four times in as many weeks after the shooting.
She originally told police that Walker was seated next to her in the car, when they were both shot by an unidentified man she guessed might be an old acquaintance of Walker's.
In an interview on Sept. 4, 2013, Sgt. Mike Ikemiyashiro said she told police that Walker had been standing outside the Volvo, trying to lift the hood of the vehicle, while she was leaning over, trying to unlatch it from the inside. The car had a flat tire after driving over a curb, a stop sign, a large rock and then through a fence at 13800 S. 933 East, according to court documents.
The next time the defendant spoke to police, Ikemiyashiro said, she admitted to seeing a police cruiser, but said nothing of the officer.
During their last interview, on Sept. 27, 2013, "there were some serious discrepancies" between her story and the evidence police had collected, Ikemiyashiro said. It was then that Vaillancourt admitted that Walker pulled the trigger — shooting her and then himself — Ikemiyashiro said, but she also told police that Walker didn't know what he was doing.
Events leading to the shooting began at about 6 a.m. on Sept. 1, 2013, when Johnson — in a marked police car — came upon Walker standing outside his stopped Volvo sedan.
When the officer pulled up near the Volvo to see if he could help, Walker shot Johnson through the open front passenger-side window of the police car.
Johnson, who was hit in the chest, tried to drive north to get away. But Walker, who was allegedly under methamphetamine at the time of the incident, shot at Johnson at least three more times.
Johnson, 32, died at the scene.
As part of Vaillancourt's plea in abeyance, she must submit to random urinalysis and drug testing, maintain full-time employment or school, and complete an inpatient substance abuse treatment program.