Boeing to appear in court over fatal 737 MAX crash

Boeing officials and relatives of some of the passengers who died in the two Boeing 737 Max plane crashes will meet face-to-face on Thursday in a Texas courtroom where the aerospace giant will stand trial on a criminal charge it thought was settled two years ago. back.

In a brief letter filed on Wednesday, lawyers for the families accused Boeing of committing “the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.”

The family members were never consulted before Boeing made a deal with the US Department of Justice to avoid prosecution for fraud. Up to a dozen or so people from several countries are expected to testify about how they have been affected by the loss of loved ones.

The arraignment will consist of two main stages: Boeing will file a guilty plea, and then the relatives of the passengers will ask the court to impose conditions on Boeing in the same way as any defendant in a criminal case.

On Wednesday, the families said those terms should include a court-selected monitor to assess whether Boeing is building a culture of safety and ethics – as it promised the government – and that its steps to do so should be made public.

Boeing has faced civil lawsuits, congressional investigations and massive damage to its business following plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people in total. However, Boeing and its top officials escaped prosecution thanks to an agreement reached between the company and the government in January 2021.

Boeing has been charged with one count of defrauding the United States to force regulators to approve the Max jet. But the outgoing Trump administration’s Justice Department agreed to delay the prosecution and drop the charge if Boeing pays $2.5 billion — mostly to airlines but includes a $243.6 million fine — and commits no other crimes for three years.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ordered Boeing to be prosecuted after finding that the Justice Department violated victims’ rights law by not informing families of secret negotiations with Boeing. It did not rule on the separate issue of whether Boeing should lose immunity from prosecution.

Paul Cassel, a lawyer representing the families, said he hopes Thursday’s testimonies from relatives will convince the Justice Department to drop the settlement.

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The Biden administration’s Justice Department has not objected to the indictment, but still agrees with Boeing that the settlement should remain in place. In a lawsuit last November, the ministry said that without a settlement agreement, the government would lose its ability to enforce Boeing reforms to prevent future tragedies.

Max’s first passenger flight was completed in 2017. The first disaster occurred in October 2018 in Indonesia, followed by another in March 2019 in Ethiopia.

Prior to both crashes, the automated flight control system, which Boeing did not initially report to airlines and pilots, lowered the plane’s nose due to erroneous sensor readings. Boeing has accused two former employees of misleading the Federal Aviation Administration about the system, known by the acronym MCAS.

One of these former employees, a test pilot, is the only person to be prosecuted in connection with Max. Last year, a jury in Judge O’Connor’s courtroom found him not guilty.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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