![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/d96e\/live\/a435bb60-b338-11ef-9f36-312e30430efa.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nA Boeing plea deal intended to resolve a case related to two fatal crashes of its planes has been rejected by a US judge.<\/p>\n
The plane maker agreed with the US government in July to plead guilty to one count of criminal fraud, face independent monitoring and pay a $243m (\u00a3191m) fine. <\/p>\n
However, Judge Reed O’Connor struck down the agreement on Thursday, saying it undermined the court and that diversity requirements for hiring the monitor were “contradictory”.<\/p>\n
Family members of the 346 people killed in the crashes<\/a> welcomed the ruling, describing the plea deal as a “get-out-of-jail-free card for Boeing”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Department of Justice said it was reviewing the decision. Boeing did not immediately comment. <\/p>\n In his decision, Judge O’Connor said the government’s previous years of overseeing the firm had “failed”.<\/p>\n “At this point, the public interest requires the court to step in,” he wrote. <\/p>\n He said the proposed agreement did not require Boeing to comply with the monitor’s recommendations and gave the company a say in selecting a candidate. <\/p>\n Those issues had also been raised by some families of those killed on the flights, who had criticised it as a “sweetheart” arrangement that did not properly hold the firm to account for the deaths<\/a>. <\/p>\n Judge O’Connor also focused on the deal’s requirements that race be considered when hiring the monitor, which he said would undermine confidence in the person hired.<\/p>\n “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,” he wrote. <\/p>\n “The parties’ DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] efforts only serve to undermine this confidence in the government and Boeing’s ethics and anti-fraud efforts.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ike and Susan Riffel of California, who lost their two sons, Melvin and Bennett, said the judge had done “the right thing” in rejecting the proposed agreement.<\/p>\n