Judge permanently dismisses Reflecting Pool case against former Olympian David Hearn

A Washington, D.C., judge on Thursday permanently dismissed the criminal case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, preventing prosecutors from charging him again over alleged damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Hearn, 67, had been accused of tearing out part of a newly applied blue liner after it began rising to the pool’s surface. Prosecutors later acknowledged in court filings that the sealant had started peeling almost immediately after installation and that contractors had left widespread damage. The Interior Department determined after Hearn was indicted that the damage resulted from a botched installation rather than vandalism.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office agreed to drop the felony charges but sought a dismissal that would preserve the option of bringing the case again. D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman instead dismissed it with prejudice, calling the possibility of a renewed prosecution “simply fanciful.”

Edelman wrote that Hearn faced the unusual prospect that a case prosecutors had acknowledged was meritless could be revived because of political pressure from President Donald Trump. While recognizing prosecutors’ authority to decide which cases to pursue, the judge said the government had no right in these circumstances to retain the ability to compound its errors or threaten Hearn with another prosecution.

Hearn’s lawyers called the ruling a victory for the rule of law and said the case should never have been brought.