COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Latest on fired police officer Michael Slager's plea agreement in the death of Walter Scott. (all times local):
12:20 p.m.
Attorneys for fired police officer Michael Slager confirm he will plead guilty to a federal civil rights charge in the shooting death of unarmed black motorist Walter Scott.
The law office of Andy Savage said in a statement Tuesday that Slager would be entering the plea during a hearing later in the day in Charleston.
Savage's statement confirms information in a copy of the plea agreement obtained earlier in the day by The Associated Press.
Slager faces a possible life sentence for violating Scott's civil rights during the April 2015 traffic stop, but prosecutors have agreed to seek a lesser sentence.
A bystander captured Scott's death on a cellphone video viewed millions of times.
Savage said he hopes the guilty plea might help Scott's family heal.
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10 a.m.
Former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager is pleading guilty to violating the civil rights of an unarmed black motorist he shot and killed as he ran from a 2015 traffic stop.
A copy of the plea agreement obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday also shows state prosecutors are dropping a pending murder charge against Slager. The AP obtained the agreement from a lawyer familiar with the case who didn't want to talk publicly before it was finalized.
Slager was scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday for motions ahead of his federal trial planned for later this month in the death of Walter Scott.
A bystander captured Scott's shooting on cellphone video, viewed millions of times.
Slager's first trial on state murder charges ended in a hung jury.
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