Oct. 1 (UPI) — A D.C. judge on Thursday permanently ended the U.S. Department of Justice’s attempts to prosecute a former Olympian accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the case against David Hearn with prejudice, ruling that the Olympic canoeist “faces the unique possibility that the government will revive this case — one that it has already announced to be meritless — based on political pressure brought by [President Donald Trump] upon his subordinate officers.”
Hearn was arrested June 19 and charged two weeks later with felony destruction of property after allegedly tearing a piece of sealant from the reflecting pool after its installation. He was accused of causing more than $1,000 in damages with the alleged act.
Trump said on June 22 that the pool was damaged by vandals. He said the damages included a 350-foot slit from one side to the other.
“I saw it. They cut it. They cut it very violently,” Trump told reporters at the time. “The same thing with the floor. They cut it and then they lifted it. They pulled it. And that’s what it is.”
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in late July requested the case be dismissed, saying Hearn was indicted on “less than fulsome information” from the Department of the Interior. She said in a court filing at the time a “flawed installation” by a contractor and a “rush” to finish the work before the “America 250” celebration.
Edelman in early August granted the DOJ’s request but held off on deciding whether prosecutors could choose to prosecute Hearn later.
In his order Thursday, Edelman cited Trump’s public criticism of Pirro for dropping the case, demands that she reinstate it and publicly considered firing her for abandoning the case.
“The Court respects the authority of the Office of the United States Attorney to decide which cases to prosecute and which to dismiss,” Edelman wrote Thursday. “However, in the exceptional circumstances posed by this case, the government has no right to retain the ability to compound the errors it has already made, or even to threaten to do so, at Mr. Hearn’s expense.”
“Today’s dismissal with prejudice ensures that the DOJ cannot bring this case against him again,” Hearn’s attorneys said in a statement. “This decision is a victory for the rule of law and for an innocent American seeking justice.”
Hearn represented the United States at the Summer Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000.