A federal court judge Thursday rejected a plea agreement between the Justice Department and Boeing citing concerns that diversity is among the criteria that would be used to select the independent monitor charged with ensuring that Boeing complies with its agreement with the government.
“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,” wrote District Court Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas. “The parties’ DEI efforts only serve to undermine this confidence in the Government and Boeing’s ethics and antifraud efforts. Accordingly, the diversity-and-inclusion provision renders the plea agreement against the public interest.”
O’Connor also wrote that the compliance monitor provisions also “erroneously marginalize” the court, which “undermines public confidence in Boeing’s probation, fails to promote respect for the law, and is therefore not in the public interest.” He noted that the government’s efforts to ensure Boeing’s compliance have failed.
O’Connor’s decision means the fate of one of the longer-running legal battles over the aerospace giant’s responsibility for two 737 Max plane crashes that killed 346 people is still unresolved.
Boeing had no immediate comment on the decision. A Justice Department official said attorneys are reviewing the opinion.
However, attorneys for the families hailed the judge’s decision because they oppose the deal, saying it doesn’t change Boeing culture or safety issues.
“Judge O’Connor’s emphatic rejection of the plea deal is an important victory of the families in this case and, more broadly, crime victims’ interests in the criminal justice process,” Paul Cassell, a professor at the University of Utah College of Law and former federal judge who is representing the families in the case, said via email. “No longer can federal prosecutors and high-powered defense attorneys craft backroom deals and just expect judges to approve them. Victims can object – and when they have good reasons for striking a plea, judges will respond.”
Added Erin Applebaum, a partner with Kreindler & Kreindler who represents 34 families who lost loved ones in the Ethiopian Airlines crash in a separate civil case: “We anticipate a significant renegotiation of the plea deal that incorporates terms truly commensurate with the gravity of Boeing’s crimes. It’s time for the DOJ to end its lenient treatment of Boeing and demand real accountability.”
Under the terms of the agreement Boeing agreed to plead guilty to one count of fraud; pay $243.6 million in penalties; invest $455 million to strengthen its safety, quality and compliance programs; and submit to oversight by an independent monitor for three years.
Justice Department officials have pushed back against criticism of the deal, arguing in court that the agreement “ensures Boeing is held fully accountable for its criminal conduct and the financial benefits the Company reaped from that conduct (and for breaching a prior agreement).”
Prosecutors said that despite the passionate advocacy of the victims’ families, there is no evidence that “could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Boeing’s fraud caused the deaths of their loved ones.”
Initially, it appeared that Boeing would not face prosecution in connection with the two crashes after reaching a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department in January 2021. However, a door panel blowout aboard a 737 Max jet in early January this year renewed scrutiny of the company’s operations, and in May prosecutors announced that the company failed to live up to the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement and could be criminally prosecuted.
Family members had hoped the determination that Boeing was in breach of the original plea agreement would prompt the Justice Department to take a harder line against the company. In the end, though, Justice Department officials declined to go to trial, arguing the plea deal would guarantee the company would be held accountable.
O’Connor gave the two sides 30 days to provide an update on how they plan to proceed with the case.
(c) Washington Post
