The policeman who murdered George Floyd faces a longer jail term after admitting breaching the dying man's civil rights.
Derek Chauvin appeared in the US District Court in St Paul, Minnesota in an orange jumpsuit to waive his right to a trial by changing his plea to guilty.
He faced had gone to trial he was facing life in prison.
A state judge had already sentenced Chauvin to 22 and a half years back in June after a jury convicted him for the 2020 murder of Mr Floyd.
The 45-year-old has since been held in solitary confinement in a maximum-security Minnesota prison.
Chauvin, who is white, was seen in videos recorded by horrified onlookers kneeling on the handcuffed Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes in a brutal arrest on a street corner on May 25, 2020.
The killing ignited one of the largest protest movements ever seen in the United States.
Chauvin admitted today that in his role as a police officer he breached Mr Floyd's constitutional right to be free from "unreasonable seizure" and to not face excessive force.
Federal prosecutors told the court that the sentencing guidelines call for Chauvin to spend 20 to 25 years in prison, though they noted that the court could rule for a harsher sentence, up to life in prison.
They said that under the plea agreement prosecutors would ask the court for a 25-year sentence to run concurrently with the state one, meaning Chauvin would extend his current prison term by just a few years.
Federal prosecutors said he would be moved to a federal prison, which are often perceived to be safer than their state counterparts.
District Judge Paul Magnuson said he would hold a sentencing hearing at a later date, where Chauvin and Mr Floyd's relatives, some of whom were in court on Wednesday, will have a chance to address the court.
As part of the agreement, Chauvin also admitted he breached the civil rights of a boy he arrested in 2017 who was 14 at the time.
He beat the boy's head with a torch and knelt on his neck, which drew charges in a separate federal indictment.
The boy, who is black, attended Wednesday's hearing with a lawyer, and later exchanged elbow bumps with Mr Floyd's brother Philonise in the hallway outside.
"It's a good day for justice," Philonise told the boy, it was reported.
Chauvin and three other officers - Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao - were arresting Mr Floyd on suspicion of using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
Lane, Kueng and Thao were also fired from the Minneapolis Police Department and face charges in a state trial, due to begin in March, that they aided and abetted the killing of Mr Floyd.
The three face a federal trial in January as well on charges they deprived Floyd of his rights.
The indictment said Thao and Kueng violated Mr Floyd's rights by not intervening to stop Chauvin from kneeling on his neck, and that all the officers involved showed deliberate indifference to Mr Floyd's serious medical needs.
