“I can tell you it was inadvertent,” Bush said. “That’s my opinion. I’ve never seen anything to suggest otherwise.”

Lawyer Albert Watkins, who represents Smith’s daughter, said, “This has been a slog and it is one that unfortunately became necessary by virtue of really significant deficiencies in the performance of certain individuals who hold themselves out as agents of the court.”

Watkins called the failure to turn over evidence as required “tragic” and said it “compromised the integrity of our federal civil rights system.”

He also said that Smith’s daughter and fiancée were willing to agree to a lower settlement amount in order to make the Goldsmith report public, because that was his client and Smith’s fiancée’s “highest priority.”

The city of St. Louis and the attorney general’s office will split the $500,000 payment. The state money comes from a state legal defense fund, and the settlement says the city will seek reimbursement from that same fund, although the attorney general disputes that reimbursement is appropriate.

The settlement says there is no admission of liability by officials or their lawyers.