Charge Dismissed Against McDonnell Douglas Exec

A federal judge on Friday dismissed an indictment against a McDonnell Douglas Corp. executive who was charged with conspiring to divert sophisticated manufacturing tools to the Chinese military in violation of U.S. export laws.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington ruled that the conspiracy charge against Robert Hitt, director of McDonnell Douglas’ China program, based in Long Beach, was barred by the five-year statute of limitations.

Hitt, McDonnell Douglas, a Chinese airline partner and two other Chinese nationals were charged last October in a 16-count indictment with diverting the machine tools to a Chinese military plant.

But attorneys for Hitt said the single conspiracy count against their client should be dismissed because the alleged conspiracy ended with the government’s granting of the export licenses on Sept. 14, 1994.

The judge agreed.

Dan Marmalefsky, a Los Angeles attorney representing Hitt, said his client was pleased with the ruling. “He’s relieved that this nightmare is ended and he can once again devote his full energies to his work,” said the lawyer.

Marmalefsky said the charges against McDonnell Douglas, which was acquired by Boeing Co. in 1997, and the other defendants remain intact because their lawyers agreed to waive the statute of limitations even before the grand jury issued indictments in the case.

McDonnell Douglas and the Chinese defendants have denied any wrongdoing and entered not guilty pleas.