Brittany Nicole Smith.

Edward Joseph Parker.

Originally charged with attempted first-degree murder after helping to arrange the shooting of a man on U.S. Highway 59 south of Lawrence on Memorial Day, Brittany Nicole Smith, 21, pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

At Smith’s preliminary hearing in July, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jay Armbrister testified that Smith’s codefendant, Edward Joseph “E.J.” Parker, 25, confessed to shooting 24-year-old Skylar Workman on May 26 after Smith allegedly coerced him into the crime.

Armbrister said Parker told him that on the day of the shooting, Smith asked him if he would help her get in touch with her ex-boyfriend, Workman, and Parker went over to her apartment.

Armbrister told the court that Parker said Smith then gave him a handgun and said, “Shoot (Workman) and get my phone back.”

Detective Scott Bonham of the sheriff’s office said at the preliminary hearing that Smith told him that Workman had a cellphone of Smith’s since their breakup in 2013.

Armbrister said Parker then took the gun in search of Workman while Smith texted the two men, trying to get Workman’s location so Parker could find him.

After searching for about half an hour, Parker was about to give up when he spotted Workman’s truck ahead of him driving south on Iowa Street, Armbrister said. Armbrister testified that Parker said he then followed the truck onto U.S. 59, positioned his vehicle in the truck’s blind spot and shot Workman.

Smith’s defense attorney, Courtney Henderson, argued for a lesser charge of conspiracy to commit murder rather than the attempted first-degree murder charge three months ago, but Judge Peggy Kittel refused the request.

As part of the plea agreement, the defense is asking the judge to depart from the standard sentence of 109 to 493 months in prison and give Smith 100 months instead. Kittel will decide how much time to give Smith at the woman’s sentencing on Jan. 9. Smith will be required to register as a violent offender after her release.

Parker, who pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder in July, is scheduled to have his jury trial Dec. 1.