Boeing to stand trial in Fort Worth courtroom, families testify in fatal 737 MAX plane crash case

FORT WORTH, TX (CBSDFW.COM) — On Thursday, Boeing will be formally prosecuted in a criminal case involving two fatal crashes involving its 737 MAX aircraft.

The hearing will take place at the US Courthouse in Fort Worth, where Judge Reed O’Connor requires a company representative to plead guilty or not guilty.

Relatives of the victims will also be able to testify how the fatal accidents have changed their lives.

Michael Stumo of Massachusetts lost his 24-year-old daughter Samia Rose.

“She was beautiful, charismatic, smart, caring.”

Samya Rose was among those on board an Ethiopian airline Air 737 Max when it crashed after takeoff in Ethiopia in March 2019.

A Lion Air 737 Max crashed after takeoff in Indonesia in October 2018.

A total of 346 people were killed.

Stumo said he and other family members would testify before Judge O’Connor. “We want him to know how our lives have shrunk, how we have gaps, our lives just aren’t what they used to be.”

Federal court records show that two years ago this month, the US Department of Justice and Boeing entered into a deferred prosecution agreement.

The documents show that the company agreed to pay a criminal fine of $243 million, which court records describe as “a minimum fine.”

More than $1.7 billion will go to the airlines that bought the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, and $500 million in additional compensation will go to the heirs and relatives of the victims.

As a result of the agreement, Boeing will not be charged, although it was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with two employees accused of misleading the FAA about how the new flight controls work. MAX.

The Justice Department determined that the families of the victims were not victims of crimes under federal law and could not contribute to the case.

In December 2021, the families of the victims filed petitions with the court asking them to recognize them as victims of the crime.

Records show that last April, Texas Senator Ted Cruz criticized the Justice Department’s decision in a letter to Judge O’Connor. “… If the government did not consider these people victims, then it is difficult to understand why it considered appropriate a compensation fund of half a billion dollars. The Department of Justice’s attempt to achieve both now is simply not credible…”

In October, Judge O’Connor ruled that family members were victims of the crime and could be heard in court.

Stumo said: “We were obviously very happy that he was on our side, that we were victims.”

Boeing declined to comment on the case for CBS 11, and the Justice Department did not respond to our request for comment on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, we asked a Justice Department spokesman why the agency filed a case in Fort Worth when its office is in Washington, DC, Boeing is based in Virginia, and the plane was designed in Seattle.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

Stumo said that after completing his degree in global health, his daughter is heading to East Africa to help create a new health initiative. “I got my dream job. She was on top of the world. And in the end, she left us after six minutes of flying in this plane. her field.