CHARLESTON — A Mingo County woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars as a result of pleading guilty to taking part in the murder of a federal drug informant. But, she will not be executed,

Valerie Friend, 47, of North Matewan, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court, admitting her part in the death of 33-year-old Carla Collins.

Collins had been recruited by investigators to provide information about George M. “Porgy” Lecco’s drug activities.

Friend was previously convicted of the crime, along with Lecco, who lived at Red Jacket. In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

Friend testified that she killed Collins at the request of Lecco, who was selling cocaine from a pizza restaurant in Red Jacket. She said Lecco paid her for the her part in the murder with drugs and money.

In court Thursday, Friend said Lecco had given her a gun, and that she and Collins spent the evening of April 16, 2005, driving around the Red Jacket and Newtown area with Patricia Burton and Carmella Blankenship, stopping occasionally to snort cocaine. The four eventually came upon an abandoned trailer in the Newtown area.

Friend said she and Collins went into the trailer, along with Burton. Blankenship did not enter the trailer, she said.

Once inside, Friend told the court she shot Collins and hit her in the head.

Tina Collins, Carla Collins’s mother, was present during court proceedings. She said she felt Friend should have gotten the death penalty.

“It’s a good thing she pleaded, she’s coming out ahead,” Tina said. “She [Valerie] will get life instead of the death penalty.”

Lecco still faces the death penalty for killing a federal witness in retaliation and using a gun to commit murder during a federal investigation, in addition to other drug charges.

Lecco and Friend were originally tried together in 2007 and convicted on all counts.

Although West Virginia currently does not have a death penalty, the jury in the case recommended death for both defendants, as the victim was a federal drug informant.

U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. later set aside that verdict when it was discovered a juror lied about his own criminal past and failed to disclose that he was the target of a federal child pornography investigation. The case against the juror was later dropped by prosecutors with no charges filed.

Friend were ordered a separate trial in September after attorneys for each said they intended to blame the other defendant for Collins’ murder.

Lecco’s trial was to follow Friend’s, which had been scheduled for Oct. 27.

As part of Friend’s plea agreement, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder granted special permission to remove the death penalty.

Copenhaver said Friend will be sentenced at a later date.

She faces life imprisonment and a hefty fine.