A lot of people are conflating civil and criminal charges, it's not the same. And you can't just settle criminal charges like this by paying the victim, once it's in a DA's hands, and they have discovery, they usually won't withdraw charges, esp. if the victim has been paid off.
What he would have done is have his lawyer, a better lawyer, negotiate with the DA's office for a plea bargain that everybody can live with. They do those all the time. No one wanted to take this to trial, except Majors. This is a plea bargain case. He acted arrogantly. Or ignorantly. Or both. I would have said the best he could have done is a mixed verdict.