Relatives of passengers who died in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max planes came to a federal court in Texas on Friday to listen as their lawyers asked a judge to throw out a plea agreement that the aircraft manufacturer struck with prosecutors and put the company on trial.

A federal judge on Friday pressed U.S. Justice Department officials to justify the terms of Boeing's agreement to plead guilty to fraud in the wake of two fatal 737 MAX crashes but stopped short of ruling on whether to accept the deal.

The fate of Boeing Co.’s plea deal with U.S. prosecutors over the two catastrophic crashes of its 737 Max jets now lies with a federal judge, after