TEXAS  –  A United States federal judge has rejected a deal that would have let Boeing plead guilty to a felony conspiracy charge and pay a fine for misleading US regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed, killing 346 people.

US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas last Thursday said that diversity, inclusion and equity – or DEI – policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in picking an official to oversee Boeing’s compliance with the agreement.

The ruling creates uncertainty around the criminal prosecution of the aerospace giant in connection with the development of its bestselling airline plane.

The judge gave Boeing and the Justice Department 30 days to tell him how they plan to proceed. They could negotiate a new plea agreement, or prosecutors could move to put the company on trial.

The Department of Justice said it was reviewing the ruling. Boeing did not comment immediately.

Paul Cassell, an attorney for families of passengers who died in the crashes, called the decision an important victory for the rights of crime victims.

“No longer can federal prosecutors and high-powered defense attorney craft backroom deals and just expect judges to approve them,” Cassell said. “Judge O’Connor has recognized that this was a cozy deal between the government and Boeing that failed to focus on the overriding concerns – holding Boeing accountable for its deadly crime and ensuring that nothing like this happens again in the future.”

Many relatives of the passengers who died in the crashes, which took place off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, respectively, have spent years pushing for a public trial, the prosecution of former company officials, and more severe financial punishment for Boeing.

The deal the judge rejected was reached in July and would have let Boeing plead guilty to defrauding regulators who approved pilot-training requirements for the 737 Max nearly a decade ago. Prosecutors said they did not have evidence to argue that Boeing’s deception played a role in the crashes.

In his ruling, O’Connor focused on part of the agreement that called for an independent monitor to oversee Boeing’s steps to prevent violation of anti-fraud laws during three years of probation.

O’Connor expressed particular concern that the agreement “requires the parties to consider race when hiring the independent monitor … ‘in keeping with the [Justice] Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.’”

O’Connor, a conservative appointed to the bench by former President George W Bush, questioned Justice Department and Boeing lawyers in October about the role of DEI in the selection of the monitor. Department lawyers said selection would be open to all qualified candidates and based on merit.

The judge wrote in last Thursday’s ruling that he was “not convinced … the Government will not choose a monitor without race-based considerations”.

“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. The parties’ DEI efforts only serve to undermine this confidence in the government and Boeing’s ethics and anti-fraud efforts,” he wrote. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: A  737 Max jetliner. (Bloomberg)