Federal judge rejects Boeing guilty plea deal in 737 Max crashes that killed hundreds

Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Boeing's guilty plea to conspiracy to defraud the federal government in two 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people was rejected Thursday by Judge Reed O'Connor. Families of some victims had strongly opposed the plea deal.

The rare rejection was welcomed by Paul G. Cassell, an attorney for the families of victims. The crashes occurred during a six month period between 2018 and 2019.

"Judge O'Connor's emphatic rejection of the plea deal is an important victory for the families in this case and, more broadly, for crime victims' interests in the criminal justice process," Cassell said in a statement.

The judge's decision to toss out the plea deal will require Boeing and the government to go back to into talks to settle the case.

Mark Lindquist, another attorney representing some victim families said the judge's decision was "highly unusual."

Lindquist, representing Indonesian victim families, said, "In my opinion, the judge is sending DOJ a message. Do your job. Hold Boeing accountable."

Judge O'Connor expressed concern in his ruling that the government-appointed independent monitoring required by the tossed plea deal would include diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

In the ruling the judge wrote, "the court is not convinced in light of the foregoing that the government will not choose a monitor without race-based considerations and, thus, will not act in a nondiscriminatory manner. In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public is confident this monitor selection is done based solely on competency."

Under the plea deal, Boeing was to pay a fine of $244 million, after having made prior payments in the case. The company also agreed to invest $455 million to improve safety.

Boeing agreed to plead guilty in July to a single felony count of conspiracy to defraud the government in connection to two crashes of its 737 Max jets.

Safety regulators were defrauded, the government contended, when Boeing failed to disclose information about a software system on the jets that was new at the time of the crashes.

Called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, it caused two Max 737's to nose dive and crash.

Boeing and the Justice Department entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in 2021, but the Justice Department said in May that Boeing had violated the deal protecting the company from criminal charges in the crashes.