Judge Questions DOJ Decision to Drop Boeing Independent Monitor

A U.S. judge on Wednesday held a three-hour hearing to consider objections to a deal between the Justice Department and Boeing that allows the planemaker to avoid prosecution on a charge stemming from two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes that killed 346 people.

Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas questioned the government’s decision to drop a requirement that Boeing face oversight from an independent monitor for three years and instead hire a compliance consultant, but did not immediately issue a decision. He heard anguished objections from relatives of some of those killed in the crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 to the non-prosecution agreement.

About two dozen relatives—some from as far as Indonesia, Africa, Europe and Canada—traveled to the Texas courthouse to argue that Boeing should not be allowed to avoid pleading guilty after last year agreeing to do so.

“It’s been going almost seven years since these crashes and we still haven’t gotten any justice,” said Ike Riffel, a California father whose two sons were killed in the Ethiopia crash.

Boeing will no longer face oversight by an independent monitor under the agreement but will hire a compliance consultant, and O’Connor asked why the government no longer thinks a monitor is needed.

A government lawyer said Boeing has improved and the Federal Aviation Administration is providing enhanced oversight. Boeing and the government argue O’Connor has no choice but to dismiss the case and cannot appoint a special prosecutor as some relatives have sought.

O’Connor said in 2023 that “Boeing’s crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.”

Boeing has now agreed to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims’ fund to be divided evenly per victim of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes, on top of a new $243.6 million fine and over $455 million to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety, and quality programs.

“The eyes of the world are on American to see if it is going to hold Boeing accountable,” said lawyer Paul Cassell, who represents some of the victims. “Essentially this is an effort by Boeing to bribe their way of out accountability.”

Boeing did not immediately comment.

Photo: A Boeing 737 Max jet prepares to land at Boeing Field following a test flight in Seattle in 2020. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)