FORT WORTH, Texas Sept 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on

Wednesday held a three-hour hearing to consider objections to a

deal between the Justice Department and Boeing ( BA ) that

allows the planemaker to avoid prosecution on a charge stemming

from two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes that killed 346 people.

Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas questioned the government's

decision to drop a requirement that Boeing ( BA ) face oversight from

an independent monitor for three years and instead hire a

compliance consultant but did not immediately issue a decision.

He heard anguished objections from relatives of some of those

killed in the crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019

to the non-prosecution agreement.