The city of Chillicothe and a former Chillicothe police officer reached a settlement with Chillicothe resident Mark Woodworth, who claimed his civil rights were violated following the shooting death of a rural Chillicothe woman in 1990. Chillicothe City Clerk Rozanne Frampton released information Thursday of the city council’s Jan. 11 executive session at which time the council voted unanimously to pass an ordinance authorizing a contract to limit recovery from the city with Mark Woodworth and all acts necessary to carry out the terms of the contract. Council members are David Moore, Reed Dupy, Wayne Cunningham, Tom Douglas and Paul Howard. The clerk’s office received a fully executed copy of the agreement on Wednesday. Woodworth made a demand upon the insurance companies issuing policies to the city and former police officer David Miller, and offered a settlement and full release in exchange for payment of the combined policy limits. The Missouri Intergovernmental Risk Management Association (MIRMA) offered its policy limit. This amounted to MIRMA releasing $944,143.54. Two other companies – Savers Property and Casualty Insurance Company and Sphere Drake Insurance Company – denied coverage and filed a declaratory judgment against the parties, failing to defend the insureds and settle. The city and Miller are just two of several individuals and entities listed as defendants in a 2014 complaint filed by Woodworth in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri. Announcements regarding the other defendants and possible other settlements have not yet been made. Woodworth alleged that Miller participated in an unfair and improper investigation of Woodworth, acting in concert with others, and at all relevant times was acting in his official capacity as a member of the Chillicothe Police Department, a member of the North Missouri Major Case Squad and as an agent of the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department. He was being sued in his individual and official capacities. The settlement agreed upon limits not only the liability of the city but also of Miller, in both capacities, said Robert Cowherd, Chillicothe city attorney. Woodworth spent more than 17 years incarcerated for the murder of Catherine Robertson, a murder he said he didn’t commit. Woodworth alleges that he was twice wrongfully convicted for murder and other serious offenses. He claims officials of the criminal justice system in Livingston County and other law enforcement officials conspired with civilians who were acting under color of state law, to “cruelly and cold-bloodedly” frame him for crimes he was innocent of. “The conspirators accomplished their goals by conducing a sham investigation, fabricating false evidence, suppressing exculpatory evidence and concealing their conspiratorial acts until serious Brady violations were uncovered in 2009,” the complaint stated. After nearly 18 years in incarceration (from the time he was 19 years old until 38 years of age) and after years of litigation, all charges against Woodworth were dropped on July 15, 2014. The settlement contract approved by the council states that the city acknowledges that on the basis of evidence supporting Woodworth’s claims, including the witness testimony and documents, there is a viable case against the city. “Moreover, if such evidence exists then there is a reasonable likelihood of a verdict of liability and entry of judgment in favor of first party,” the contract states. “As a result, and to avoid the risk of a large verdict in excess of their insurance limits, the second party has agreed to enter this agreement.” Chillicothe City Administrator Ike Holland told the Constitution-Tribune that the settlement removes the city from the lawsuit. “It removes us from the lawsuit and any liability that would be determined by a judge or jury,” Holland said. “We are not establishing he his guilty or not guilty.”