A D.C. judge permanently dismissed the felony vandalism case against former Olympian David "Davey" Hearn on Thursday, Oct. 1, barring prosecutors from ever refiling the charge.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman ruled that the government's own evidence showed a contractor, not Hearn, damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool's lining. And President Donald Trump had publicly pressured prosecutors to revive the case after they dropped it.
"This case must be dismissed with prejudice, and the government must thus be barred from reinstituting this charge against Mr. Hearn," Edelman wrote in his order, first reported by the Associated Press.
The ruling ends a saga that began June 19, when Hearn, 67, a Bethesda, Maryland, resident and three-time Olympic canoeist, stopped on a bike ride near the Reflecting Pool. He has said he reached in to examine a chunk of peeling liner and let go when a park worker told him to. A grand jury indicted him July 2 on a single count of property destruction carrying up to 10 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty July 9.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office dropped the charge July 31 after the Interior Department produced evidence that a contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, had botched the pool's renovation under a no-bid contract worth nearly $15 million, according to WUSA9. Prosecutors said the company rushed to finish before the America 250 celebration. Prosecutors stated that had the Interior Department been forthcoming with information in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.
The contractor later told the New York Times the liner peeled because of "human oversight," including layering two incompatible chemicals, WUSA9 reported.
But the case did not end there.
Trump said Pirro "choked" and urged her on Truth Social to revisit the decision, citing Hearn's ties to ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum continued to insist vandals damaged the pool.
Edelman wrote that Trump had criticized the decision to drop the case and publicly entertained firing the U.S. Attorney over it, according to NBC News. The judge wrote that Hearn faced the unique possibility that the government would revive a case it had already announced to be meritless, based on presidential pressure, the BBC reported.
Edelman called the circumstances extraordinary and said the court had an obligation to protect Hearn from what would amount to harassment, WUSA9 reported.
At a hearing in September, Judge Edelman asked government prosecutor Michael Spence what future prosecution could even occur. Spence replied: "That I don't know." Pressed for a theoretical example, he conceded he had no answer, NBC News reported.
Hearn's legal team, attorneys Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann, Steve Levin and Michael Bromwich, said in a statement that the ruling protects Hearn from repeated use of criminal prosecution against someone who should never have been charged. Hearn, a 20-year National Park Service volunteer for the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, told NPR in August that the ordeal had tested his confidence in the country he represented at three Olympic Games.
Pirro's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, NBC News reported. Trump appointed Pirro, a former Fox News host, as the District's top federal prosecutor. Edelman was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama.
The dismissal with prejudice means no avenue exists to refile the charge against Hearn.
