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The wife of Michael Paul Astorga, who is accused of killing a sheriff's deputy, will not face any jail time under a plea agreement that has already placed her into a "pretrial diversion program" and postponed her day in court by a year.

She could also have the federal charge erased from her record if she successfully completes the program.

Marcella Poolaw Astorga was expected to go to trial Monday in Santa Fe on a charge of providing a false official statement to authorities during the hunt to find her husband after the March 22, 2006, shooting death of Bernalillo County sheriff's Deputy James McGrane Jr. in the East Mountains.

But late last week, U.S. District Judge Bruce Black granted an unopposed request to continue Poolaw Astorga's case for one year.

Court documents indicate she needs the delay to complete a pretrial diversion program, which she has already begun.

Such a program is similar to probation but occurs before any judgment of guilt or innocence. If the program is completed successfully, the charges are erased from the defendant's record.

Federal prosecutors allege Poolaw Astorga, 25, lied to FBI agents about assisting, aiding or harboring her husband while he was a fugitive from justice.

Court documents in related cases state Poolaw Astorga, who was pregnant with the couple's first child at the time, did not go to work the morning of the shooting, and that her father, a retired State Police officer, and sister found her car parked at a home on Edith Boulevard Northeast, where Astorga was believed to have stopped in the early hours of the manhunt.

Her trial has been delayed for months, while negotiations were under way for a plea agreement rather than a trial.

Astorga, who is also charged with murder in the November 2005 shooting death of a family rival, was captured 13 days later in Mexico.

If convicted, he could face the death penalty. A three-day hearing in which Astorga's defense attorney, Gary Mitchell, will continue to argue against proceeding as a death penalty case is scheduled to begin Dec. 19.