The families of some of the 346 people killed in two Boeing Max jetliner crashes have asked a federal judge to reject a plea agreement Boeing and the U.S. Justice Department have proposed. Instead, the families want the judge to schedule a jury trial for Boeing.
Boeing and the Justice Department recently finalized an agreement for Boeing to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit fraud to settle allegations that it deceived Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved the 737 Max and then broke a 2021 settlement that would have let the company escape criminal prosecution.
The case against Boeing stems from two Boeing 737 Max crashes - in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019 - and Boeing’s misrepresentations about a key software feature involved in both incidents.
The decision to accept the deal or put Boeing on trial is now in the hands U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas. O’Connor wrote in a ruling last year, according to Reuters, that "Boeing's crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history."
Paul Cassell, one of the lawyers representing relatives of the crash victims, wrote in a court filing the proposed fine of up to $487 million is “inadequate” and “at the very least” is based on “misleading accounting and inaccurate accounting.”
Cassell also said in his filing that the fine “fails to reflect that Boeing’s crime killed 346 innocent victims.” He described the plea agreement as “morally reprehensible.”
Meanwhile, another lawyer representing the families whose loved ones crashed in the Boeing aircraft over Indonesia, also said he wants the judge to decline the plea agreement. Sanjiv Singh wrote in his filing that many of the families in Southeast Asia have not received proper restitution for their losses. Instead, he said his clients were “pressured to sign likely illegal releases which preyed upon them at their weakest, most vulnerable moments" shortly after the crash.
Another lawyer had suggested that the Justice Department may be favoring Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, over the families because Boeing is a major U.S. government contractor.
"To actually charge Boeing and its senior management with the actual crimes committed, including the homicide of 346 passengers, would make any explanation of ongoing business dealings difficult and uncomfortable, particularly in an election year," Adrian Vuckovich wrote.
Boeing and the Justice Department have 14 days to respond to the families' filings, the Associated Press reports.