Boeing is ordered to appear in US court to be arraigned on felony charge over fatal 737 crashes
, 2023-01-19 20:10:21,
Executives from Boeing, one of the world’s largest plane manufacturers, will have to appear in court next week over two fatal crashes of its 737 MAX jets.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor on Thursday ordered a representative of the company to appear in court on January 26 to be arraigned on a 2021 felony charge, after families of the nearly 350 killed in the 2018 crash in Indonesia and the 2019 crash in Ethiopia objected to a plea deal.
Boeing had won immunity from criminal prosecution as part a $2.5billion Justice Department deferred prosecution agreement, and was instead charged with fraud conspiracy related to the 737 MAX’s flawed design.
But O’Connor, of Texas, ruled in October that people killed in the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes are legally considered ‘crime victims,’ and family members had urged him to require Boeing to be legally arraigned on the felony charge.
Those family members will now be able to speak at the hearing next week. It remains unclear what criminal charges the aircraft manufacturer could be charged with.
Boeing was ordered Thursday to appear in court next week to be arraigned on felony charges

Investigators with the U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) look over debris at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 on March 12, 2019 in Bishoftu, Ethiopia
The families had argued that the Justice Department ‘lied and violated their rights through a secret process,’ and asked Reed to rescind Boeing’s immunity from…
,
To read the original article from news.google.com, Click here