A Vietnamese woman accused of killing Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, took a plea deal to avoid the death sentence.  Doan Thi Huong pleaded guilty in Malaysia on Monday to  "causing hurt by a dangerous weapon."  She was sentenced to three years and four months, starting from her date of arrest in February 2017.   Huong was originally charged with murder.

But her lawyer asked the court to reconsider those charges, arguing she was "naive" and "exploited."  The plea deal comes after prosecutors  denied an appeal  in mid March to drop the charges against Huong.

Her lawyers called the denial unfair because just days earlier, prosecutors   unexpectedly dropped  the murder charges against a second suspect in the case, Siti Aisyah.  Huong and Aisyah were suspected of  poisoning Kim Jong-nam  with a nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur's international airport in Feb.

2017.

The two said they thought they were  taking part in a prank  for a television show.

Additional reporting from  Newsy affiliate CNN .