Politics

Paul Cassell | 12.18.2023 1:43 PM

Late Friday, the Fifth Circuit ruled in an important Crime Victims' Rights Act (CVRA) case. The case challenges the Boeing deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) connected with Boeing's conspiracy to conceal safety issues surrounding its 737 MAX aircraft—a conspiracy that caused two 737 MAX crashes. Under the DPA, the Government and Boeing can move to dismiss the pending conspiracy charge against Boeing after the DPA concludes (in January). In its ruling, the Fifth Circuit held that the families who represent the victims killed in the two crashes could then challenge that dismissal motion. The ruling sets the stage for the families to continue their fight to hold Boeing accountable for its deadly conspiracy.

The case arises out of the crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft—crashes which killed 346 passengers and crew. The Justice Department later investigated Boeing for deliberately concealing safety problems with the 737 MAX. After the Department collected compelling evidence of Boeing's concealment, the Justice Department and Boeing secretly negotiated a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) covering the crashes. In January 2021, the Department filed conspiracy charges against Boeing and, immediately thereafter, the DPA. The DPA provided that if Boeing committed no new crimes over the next three years, then the Justice Department would move to dismiss the charges at the conclusion of the three-year period. The Justice Department, working with Boeing, illegally concealed the DPA from the victims' families while they negotiated it.

After the DPA was filed, in December 2021, fifteen victims' families challenged the DPA. I filed motions on their behalf, arguing that the DPA had been negotiated in violation of their CVRA rights—including in particular their right to confer with prosecutors. Ultimately, in October 2022, the federal district court judge handling the case (Judge Reed O'Connor) ruled that the Justice Department had violated the families' rights in reaching the secret deal. But then, in February 2023, Judge O'Connor ruled, regretfully, that he could not enforce the victims' families' right to confer.

As authorized by the CVRA, I filed a petition with the Fifth Circuit, asking it to overturn Judge O'Connor's........

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