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.N), 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 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.

About two dozen relatives -- some from as far as Indonesia, Africa, Europe and Canada -- traveled to the Texas courthouse to argue that Boeing should not be allowed to avoid pleading guilty after last year agreeing to do so.