{"id":19427,"date":"2026-07-28T02:42:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T21:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=19427"},"modified":"2026-07-28T02:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T21:42:28","slug":"witness-conceded-damage-before-olympic-canoeist-davey-hearn-touched-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=19427","title":{"rendered":"Witness conceded damage before Olympic canoeist Davey Hearn touched water"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260711-reflecting-pool-mn-1400-8b2d03.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-bfd597\" class=\"body-graf\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The only grand jury witness in a case <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/us-olympian-david-hearn-charged-reflecting-pool-vandalism-rcna352788\" target=\"_blank\">against a former Olympic canoeist <\/a>accused of tampering with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool testified that the area was already damaged and would have required repairs regardless, lawyers said in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28517032-hearn-filing\/\" target=\"_blank\">a court filing<\/a> Monday. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-616265\" class=\"body-graf\">David \u201cDavey\u201d Hearn was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/us-olympian-david-hearn-charged-reflecting-pool-vandalism-rcna352788\" target=\"_blank\">indicted this month <\/a>and accused of damaging the liner of the long, shallow pool near the Washington Monument.  Hearn, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/us-olympian-david-hearn-arraigned-charges-reflecting-pool-vandalism-ca-rcna353638\" target=\"_blank\">has pleaded not guilty<\/a>, previously told NBC News that \u201cthe condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0a8357\" class=\"body-graf\">President Donald Trump blamed vandals for the issues with the pool after he announced a plan to coat the bottom with \u201cAmerican flag blue\u201d ahead of America\u2019s 250th birthday. The project faced several setbacks, and the cost grew considerably beyond his original estimates. The<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/data-graphics\/dc-reflecting-pool-renovation-timeline-2026-rcna351410\" target=\"_blank\"> coating began coming up and algae flooded the water<\/a> once the pool was refilled. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-670dd2\" class=\"body-graf\">The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1ca0f8\" class=\"body-graf\">At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/three-charged-taking-trying-take-pieces-blue-sealant-reflecting-pool-rcna353620\" target=\"_blank\">least three other people face misdemeanor charges<\/a> in connection with incidents at the Reflecting Pool.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-78f85f\" class=\"body-graf\">The witness, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28517032-hearn-filing\/\" target=\"_blank\">who is not identified<\/a>, testified that the property had already been damaged before, authorities say, Hearn stuck his hands in the water, according to Hearn\u2019s team.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0a2452\" class=\"body-graf\">He was charged with destruction of property and accused of doing more than $1,000 worth of damage to the pool.   <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d6642f\" class=\"body-graf\">Hearn\u2019s team questioned whether there is enough evidence to show he caused more than $1,000 in damage to the pool, the threshold necessary to charge him with a more serious crime. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c9a9d7\" class=\"body-graf\">The witness\u2019 testimony, according to Hearn\u2019s lawyers, \u201cestablished that the pool had substantial preexisting damage requiring repair before any alleged conduct by Mr. Hearn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-15f5b0\" class=\"body-graf\">The witness said the cost to repair the pool would have been $6,000 to $15,000, based on pre-existing damage in the area.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f7cae4\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cSimply put, the government\u2019s witness could not identify any additional cost caused by Mr. Hearn\u2019s alleged conduct. Indeed, the witness did not even say or suggest that the alleged conduct had compromised the liner at all,\u201d they wrote. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-162016\" class=\"body-graf\">The witness testimony also raised questions about whether the grand jury was properly instructed about the core elements of the alleged crime, which \u201cbears directly on whether the felony indictment was lawfully returned,\u201d Hearn\u2019s attorneys wrote. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d0b8a2\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThe Government\u2019s only witness on that element testified that the property was already deteriorated, that the identified repairs would have been needed even without Mr. Hearn\u2019s alleged conduct, and that he could not quantify any loss caused by that conduct,\u201d they wrote. \u201cConsequently, the grand jury\u2019s indictment of Mr. Hearn is hard to explain. Mr. Hearn needs to learn whether the grand jury was properly instructed that the charge required him to have caused over $1,000 in damages, when the testimony failed to establish that he caused any damage at all. So does this Court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f6e711\" class=\"body-graf\">The U.S. attorney\u2019s office for Washington handles both federal and local crimes and is headed by former judge and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-91f115\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">NBC News pressed Pirro this month about how she would prove Hearn caused more than $1,000 in damage, given that the pool was already damaged in several locations. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Acyn\/status\/2072758203885211861\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cWith an expert,\u201d Pirro said.<\/a> \u201cCome to the trial.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 The only grand jury witness in a case against a former Olympic canoeist accused of tampering with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool testified that the area was already damaged and would have required repairs regardless, lawyers said in a court filing Monday. David \u201cDavey\u201d Hearn was indicted this month and accused of damaging&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260711-reflecting-pool-mn-1400-8b2d03.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}