Drug charges were dismissed against a Lenoir woman Tuesday in exchange for her guilty plea in the murder of Emma Jeans Waters.

Dale Lynn Hallyburton, 42, of 2200-2 Alfred Hartley Road, Lenoir, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of second-degree murder. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the two counts of simple possession of a controlled substance she was charged with back in March, and agreed not to pursue any additional charges stemming from the death of Waters in November 2005.

According to court documents, the Honorable Robert C. Ervin sentenced Hallyburton to spend between six and eight years behind bars, and he gave her nearly three years of credit for time served. The maximum punishment she could have received was 229 months, or 19 years.

The court record also states that Hallyburton must pay approximately $9,500 in attorney’s fees, including money owed to the two attorneys previously assigned to her case.

Herb Pearce was assigned to Dale Hallyburton when she made her first appearance in November 2005. He was replaced by T.J. Rohr in July 2006 after Andrew Jennings and Mark Killian, Mark Waters’ attorneys, filed a motion to withdraw Pearce as Hallyburton’s counsel. The original motion stated that Pearce represented Mark Waters in a prior charge, which led to him entering a guilty plea for common law robbery.

In July 2007, Rohr asked the courts to let him withdraw as counsel, citing that it was a “conflict of interest.” Robert Robbins represented Hallyburton until she entered the plea Tuesday.

Hallyburton originally was arrested in November 2005 on first-degree murder charges and held without bond in the Caldwell County Detention Center. She later was indicted for accessory after the fact of first-degree murder, and bond was set at $60,000 in November 2007.

A judge lowered Hallyburton’s bond to $20,000 in February 2008. But that bond was revoked earlier this spring when, according to a magistrate’s order, officers found drugs in her possession and re-arrested her.

On May 8, 2009, Hallyburton’s bond was reinstated at $40,000, and she was ordered not to have any contact with the victim’s family, including the co-defendant, Mark Travis Waters. She also was ordered to abide by a curfew and not leave her property as part of house arrest.

Hallyburton’s plea came almost four years after Emma Waters was found dead in her home and eight days after Mark Waters plead guilty to second-degree murder in the same case.

Waters, 41, was sentenced to spend between 17 and 21 years in prison, and given credit for the four years he spent confined at the Caldwell County Detention Center.

Statements submitted by Hallyburton to prosecutors outline the events surrounding Emma Waters’ death, and those details were presented by Assistant District Attorney Eric Bellas.

He said both Mark Waters and Hallyburton were living with Emma Waters at the time of her death.

Bellas said Hallyburton’s statement revealed that in the early morning hours of Nov. 20, Mark Waters left the home to purchase cocaine from a friend and returned later. While he was gone, Hallyburton remained at home with Emma Waters, who made several phone calls that morning, including a conversation to a close friend that lasted more than two hours.

It goes on to say that when Mark Waters returned to the home, he began arguing with his mother. It was during that argument, Waters climbed onto the chair his mother was sitting in and began choking her until she quit moving and died, Bellas said.

Autopsy results confirmed that Emma Jean Waters died due to manual strangulation.

Later that same November day, Bellas said both Waters and Hallyburton took the red pickup truck and checkbook that belonged to Emma Waters and went to a local convenience store to purchase a few items.

When the couple tried to pass several checks, the clerk knew the checks belonged to Emma Waters. Although he passed the first one, he denied the second and immediately called the family.

According to reports, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office received a call at approximately 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, 2005, from family members concerned about Emma Waters. The family members hadn’t heard from her since the day before, reports show, which was uncommon. When deputies arrived at Waters’ home on Woodchuck Lane, just off Pisgah Church Road in Lenoir, both the officers and the family entered the home.

During an initial search, Emma Waters was not found. A more detailed search was conducted that same day, and reports show that Emma Waters’ body was found inside plastic trash bags.

Lab results from the State Bureau of Investigation revealed fingerprints from both Mark Waters and Hallyburton were on the bags.

During questioning, investigators determined that some of Emma Waters’ property had been taken from her home to a home on Table Rock Road in Lenoir. When they searched the home, Bellas said they found the property and learned that Mark Waters had been trading it for crack cocaine.