US judge sets hearing on bid to end Boeing criminal prosecution

FILE PHOTO: Airplane fuselages await shipment at Spirit AeroSystems headquarters in Wichita

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Friday said he will hold an Aug. 28 hearing on a request by the Justice Department and Boeing to approve an agreement that allows the planemaker to avoid prosecution.

The deal, which faces objections from relatives of some of the 346 people killed in two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, enables Boeing to escape oversight from an independent monitor for three years. Boeing last year agreed to plead guilty under a deal with prosecutors to a criminal fraud charge that it misled U.S. regulators about a crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler)