Missouri Man Won’t Face Third Trial in 1990 Slaying

Platte County's circuit clerk says a special prosecutor has dismissed a first-degree murder charge against a northwest Missouri man facing a third trial in his neighbor's 1990 death.

Circuit Clerk Sandra Dowd confirmed the decision Tuesday by former Clay County prosecutor Don Norris.

It's the latest legal victory for Mark Woodworth, who was 16 when Cathy Robertson was shot and killed in Chillicothe.

It was not immediately why the murder charge and four other felony charges were dismissed.

The Missouri Attorney General's Office had been barred from trying the case again due to previous prosecutorial missteps.

Woodworth was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole before his first two convictions were overturned on appeal, most recently in January 2013 by the Missouri Supreme Court.