The Latest: Defense confirms Slager pleading guilty
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.