"We got justice", Judy Scott, the victim's mother, said at a news conference Tuesday.
Scott saw the plea deal as the start of healing for Walter Scott's family and community.
"Today, in working with the Department, we found justice in a resolution that vindicates the State's interests by holding former police officer Michael Slager accountable for shooting Mr. Scott [in the back] when Slager knew it was wrong and illegal; as well as justice in a resolution that recognizes the egregious violation of Mr. Scott's civil rights", Wilson continued.
Slager shot Scott five times in the back as he fled the officer on foot, and cellphone video of the shooting was viewed millions of times around the world.
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.
Jury selection in Slager's retrial was to have taken place next week in Columbia.
The chilling video footage helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement that emerged around the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Slager's murder trial ended last December in a hung jury.
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After the hung jury, many anxious that, because the video seemed to some to be an open-and-shut case, they'd never see justice. The same judge will determine what punishment former Officer Slager should receive.
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.
Some of Scott's relatives are hoping Slager will be imprisoned for life by U.S. District Judge David Norton, a veteran jurist who was nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. There are various avenues through which defendants can argue for a lighter sentence, such as lack of prior criminal record or cooperation with authorities.
Slager has not yet been sentenced and the sentence is at the discretion of the judge, Wilson said.
Slager's plea marked the first time he accepted responsibility for unnecessarily using deadly force against Scott, reversing his previous self-defense argument. The court is not bound by the government's request, and Slager could still face up to life in prison. Because he entered a plea deal, it is unlikely Slager will face life in prison.
"I'd suspect a cop who shot a black guy would rather be in federal custody and not state custody", he said. "Generally federal facilities are going to be more accommodating and better funded and more comfortable, more or less". In his initial report, Slager alleged he killed Scott over a struggle with his Taser, but that was later determined to be a false statement.
Scott's family later reached a $6.5 million settlement with the city of North Charleston.
"That is what we need to see all across the country, not just when there's video", Bamberg said.
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