The widow of a Columbia municipal worker killed in a car accident in 2005 has been awarded a wrongful-death settlement of $1.3 million.

Regina Greenplate, 33, of Columbia will receive more than $500,000 of the settlement from Martha Miller, 39, and Alfa Vision Insurance Co.

The settlement was approved yesterday by Boone County Circuit Judge Kevin Crane.

Miller was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of 34-year-old Clay Greenplate, who worked at the Columbia wastewater treatment plant.

On Nov. 27, 2005, Greenplate died after a head-on collision on Broadway near Strawn Road in west Columbia.

Tests later showed that Miller’s blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit when Miller’s sport utility vehicle crossed into the path of Greenplate’s vehicle.

Attorneys for Greenplate and the insurance company declined to discuss the case.

They tried yesterday to clear the courtroom and seal the court record, but Crane said he did not have the authority to do that.

Under the agreement, Regina Greenplate will receive $510,066.82, and each of the couple’s four children will receive $90,000 for the purchase of an annuity to pay for college expenses.

Lawyers’ fees and expenses will account for the remaining $429,933.18 of the settlement.

During a victim impact statement when Miller pleaded guilty in February 2006, Regina Greenplate explained the pain the incident has brought her family.

Miller has "taken my soul mate, the man I loved, the father of my children and the person that I was to grow old with, a man with so much kindness in his heart and so much to offer the world," Regina Greenplate said. "She ripped my heart."

Miller apologized when she entered her plea in front of Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton.

"I would like to say to the family that I’m sorry this happened," she said last year. "This has changed two families’ lives for the worse, and I’m sorry that this happened. I wish I could change it, but I can’t, and I’m sorry for that."

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