Debris is carried at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight crash near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 11, 2019. Associated Press file photo

DALLAS — A federal judge on Thursday rejected a deal that would have let Boeing plead guilty to a felony conspiracy charge and pay a fine for misleading U.S. regulators about the

737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed, killing 346 people.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas said that diversity, inclusion and equity or DEI policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in picking an official to oversee Boeing’s compliance with the agreement.

The ruling creates uncertainty around criminal prosecution of the aerospace giant in connection with the development of its bestselling airline plane.

The judge gave Boeing and the Justice Department 30 days to tell him how they plan to proceed. They could negotiate a new plea agreement, or prosecutors could move to put the company on trial.

The Justice Department said it was reviewing the ruling. Boeing did not comment immediately.

Paul Cassell, an attorney for families of passengers who died in the crashes, called the decision an important victory for the rights of crime victims.

“No longer can federal prosecutors and high-powered defense attorney craft backroom deals and just expect judges to approve them,” Cassell said. “Judge O’Connor has recognized that this was a cozy deal between the government and Boeing that failed to focus on the overriding concerns — holding Boeing accountable for its deadly crime and ensuring that nothing like this happens again in the future.”

The deal the judge rejected was reached in July and would have let Boeing plead guilty to defrauding regulators who approved pilot-training requirements for the 737 Max nearly a decade ago. Prosecutors said they did not have evidence to argue that Boeing’s deception played a role in the crashes.

In his ruling, O’Connor focused on part of the agreement that called for an independent monitor to oversee Boeing’s steps to prevent violation of anti-fraud laws during three years of probation.

O’Connor expressed particular concern that the agreement “requires the parties to consider race when hiring the independent monitor … ‘in keeping with the (Justice) Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.'”

O’Connor, a conservative appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush, questioned Justice Department and Boeing lawyers in October about the role of DEI in selection of the monitor. Department lawyers said selection would be open to all qualified candidates and based on merit.

The judge wrote in Thursday’s ruling that he was “not convinced … the Government will not choose a monitor without race-based considerations.”

“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. The parties’ DEI efforts only serve to undermine this confidence in the government and Boeing’s ethics and anti-fraud efforts,” he wrote.

O’Connor also objected that the plea deal called for the government to pick the monitor and for the appointee to report to the Justice Department, not the court. The judge also noted that Boeing would have been able to veto one of six candidates chosen by the government.