The US Justice Department has abandoned its case against former Olympian David Hearn, who was accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after President Donald Trump’s rushed renovation project began to unravel.
Hearn, 67, faced a federal felony vandalism charge that could have resulted in a prison sentence of up to ten years.
Federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro unveiled the case during a widely watched press briefing earlier this month. She said witnesses had seen Hearn “forcefully and violently” pulling up the pool’s newly installed liner on 19 June.
In a court filing yesterday, however, Ms Pirro said subsequent revelations had “undermine[d] the evidentiary basis for the indictment” and asked the court to dismiss the case.
Mr Trump had personally supervised the Reflecting Pool renovation, which included installing a liner in what officials described as an “American flag blue” shade.
The work formed part of a series of “beautification” efforts around the US capital that Mr Trump ordered ahead of the 4 July celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
The painting and sealing project was expected to cost at least $14 million.
The project soon ran into trouble. The coating began to peel, while algae turned the water a murky green — problems Mr Trump repeatedly attributed to vandals despite offering no evidence.
Hearn, who represented the United States in canoeing at three Olympic Summer Games, told US media that he stopped at the refurbished pool after a lengthy bike ride and spotted a section of liner that had partly come loose.
He reached into the water to examine its texture. As he was getting ready to leave, US Park Police officers arrested him.
“I didn’t vandalise anything,” Hearn told The Washington Post last month. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realised what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
His lawyers had asked the court to throw out the case, arguing that it reflected a politicised justice system operating under Mr Trump.
Attorneys Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann and Steve Levin said in a statement yesterday that the prosecution “should never have been brought”.
“Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong,” they said.
“The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr Hearn an apology.”
Mr Trump had previously warned that anyone who damaged one of his flagship renovation projects could face prison.
“Please remember that there is a ten-year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things – Which will be fully enforced!” the president said in June.
National Park Service law enforcement officials told AFP in June that five people had been arrested for vandalism, while five others had received federal citations.
