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A federal judge has dismissed the felony criminal conspiracy case against Boeing over the deadly crashes of two 737 Max jets, sparking fury from the mother of a 24-year-old woman aboard one of the doomed planes. Nadia Milleron's daughter, Samya Stumo, was one of the 157 people who died on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 when it crashed six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in Ethiopia on March 10, 2019. Less than a year earlier on October 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 fell out of the sky into the Java Sea, killing all 189 people on board. Judge Reed O’Connor's decision on Thursday to accept the Department of Justice's motion to drop the charge against Boeing, one count of defrauding the US government over concealing alleged faults with the 737 Max's flight control system, dealt a major blow to the families of the victims. 'If you never have accountability, then you're going to have more crashes,' Milleron told the Daily Mail. 'Ideally, executives would go to jail. Because once you put executives in jail, you change the incentive. Yes, you want to make money, but you don't want to go to jail.' The non-prosecution agreement, first proffered by the DOJ in May, requires Boeing to pay $1.1 billion in fines, more than $455 million to strengthen its compliance, safety, and quality programs, and $445 million for the victims' families. 'Victims are at the heart of the Department’s mission, and this case is no exception. Rather than allow for protracted litigation, this agreement provides finality for the victims and requires Boeing to act now,' the DOJ said in a statement. Milleron scoffed at this, pointing out that DOJ lawyers argued in 2022 that the FAA was the principal victim in the case and that families who lost loved ones were not 'crime victims' under federal law. 'I want accountability. You can give me as much money as you want,' she said. 'What use is that if more planes fall out of the sky. I want to prevent other families from having this grief, from not having grandchildren.' In his dismissal order, O'Connor agreed with Milleron and the victims' families that the non-prosecution agreement 'fails to secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public.' He added that the DOJ's agreement also 'disregards the need for Boeing to be subject to independent monitoring.' O'Connor stood down to the DOJ because he feared he would be overstepping his authority if he rejected the agreement. He said he 'disagrees with the Government that dismissing the criminal information in this case is in the public interest,' but later added that 'poor discretion may not be countered with judicial overreach.' Tracy Brammeier, a Clifford Law Offices partner who serves on the plaintiff's team, said there would be an appeal of O'Connor's ruling. 'The judge recognizes there is a miscarriage of justice on the part of the government's decision not to prosecute the case, and that this was not in the best interest of the public, which the government serves,' Brammeier said in a statement. 'Unfortunately, he feels the power to right this wrong is limited by legal precedent. The families are disappointed by the outcome but will act quickly to protect the interests of the families and the public on appeal,' Brammeier added. This week, three families who lost loved ones in the 2019 crash settled their cases in US District Court in Chicago. One of the cases was on behalf of a 28-year-old mother from Kenya who left behind her daughter and her parents. The other two dismissed cases were being pursued a 38-year-old father of seven from Yemen and Kenya, and a 30-year-old father of three from the UK and Kenya. So far, most of the civil suits against Boeing have been settled out of court. On Wednesday, opening statements were delivered in the first case that has gone to trial, which centers on the death of United Nations consultant Shikha Garg onboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight. Milleron and her husband, Michael Stumo, have their own civil case pending against Boeing for the death of their daughter. Samya Stumo was working at ThinkWell, an organization dedicated to helping developing countries achieve universal healthcare. 'She was fighting for people to get equitable health care and to make sure there was accountability for the dollars that the Gates Foundation was putting into Uganda,' Milleron said. 'For being 24, she had a job that would usually be for someone in their 30s. She already had her master's degree. She had a lot of responsibility, and she was really great at what she did.' 'It's just so unfair that she had no choice. But now people have a choice. Avoid Boeing planes.' Boeing did not immediately respond to a Daily Mail request for comment.
