{"id":29192,"date":"2026-08-06T01:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29192"},"modified":"2026-08-06T01:00:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:00:43","slug":"former-olympian-david-hearns-attorneys-want-reflecting-pool-vandalism-case-permanently-dismissed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29192","title":{"rendered":"Former Olympian David Hearn&#8217;s attorneys want Reflecting Pool vandalism case permanently dismissed"},"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<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">Attorneys for David Hearn, who was alleged to have vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, filed a motion in D.C. Superior Court, citing &#8220;exceptional facts and circumstances&#8221; to have the indictment against him dismissed with prejudice. <!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Justice Department moved last week to dismiss the<!-- -->\u00a0<a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/Politics\/olympian-david-hearn-indicted-alleged-vandalism-reflecting-pool\/story?id=134420251\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\">criminal case<\/a> against Hearn, a former Olympian, acknowledging the damage to the pool &#8220;was the result of flawed installation by the contractor.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The filing by Hearn&#8217;s attorneys follows U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro&#8217;s motion on Friday seeking to dismiss the case without prejudice, which could still leave Mr. Hearn exposed to a future indictment.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"oLzSq QrHMO fnRUo pvsTF EhJPu vPlOC zNYgW OsTsW RMeqy daRVX ISNQ sKyCY eRftA acPPc MENS nFwaT MCnQE mEeeY SmBjI xegrY rPLsU iulOd NIuqO zzscu lzDCc aHUBM IEgzD OjMNy eQqcx SVqKB GQmdz jaoD VWDdR ONJdw vrZxD OnRTz gbbfF roDbV GPGwb oMlSS gfNzt oJhud eXZcf zhVlX \">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage GpQCA lZur asrEW \" data-testid=\"prism-inline-image\">\n<figure class=\"kzIjN GNmeK pYrtp dSqFO \" data-testid=\"prism-figure\">\n<div class=\"GpQCA lZur gIjeL \" data-testid=\"prism-ratio-frame\">\n<div class=\"FvQLF iLTd NqeUA UzzHi iWsMV \"><picture data-testid=\"prism-picture\"><source media=\"(max-width: 414px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/73a7c811-4c06-4d74-a9e3-a4f68c64adb2\/David-Hearn_-2-rt-gmh-260709_1783609159291_hpMain_2.jpg?w=375, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/73a7c811-4c06-4d74-a9e3-a4f68c64adb2\/David-Hearn_-2-rt-gmh-260709_1783609159291_hpMain_2.jpg?w=750 2x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 415px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/73a7c811-4c06-4d74-a9e3-a4f68c64adb2\/David-Hearn_-2-rt-gmh-260709_1783609159291_hpMain_2.jpg?w=750, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/73a7c811-4c06-4d74-a9e3-a4f68c64adb2\/David-Hearn_-2-rt-gmh-260709_1783609159291_hpMain_2.jpg?w=1500 2x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"PHOTO: Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn stands with his lawyer as they speak to reporters following Hearn's arraignment on a felony destruction of property charge related to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, July 9, 2026. \" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR SjwtZ hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/73a7c811-4c06-4d74-a9e3-a4f68c64adb2\/David-Hearn_-2-rt-gmh-260709_1783609159291_hpMain_2.jpg\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"nMMea bNYiy Mjgpa dGwha DDmxa jgKNG RGHCC aBIU PriDW aiQHS lZur \" data-testid=\"prism-caption\">\n<p><span class=\"hsDdd OOSI GpQCA lZur VlFaz \" data-testid=\"prism-truncate\"><span><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ \">Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn stands with his lawyer as they speak to reporters following Hearn&#8217;s arraignment on a felony destruction of property charge related to vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, at DC Superior Court in Washington, July 9, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ YNujN JGtjI aZFDu rkKLh \">Elizabeth Frantz\/Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">If the motion filed by Hearn&#8217;s attorneys is granted, it would block the government from trying to charge him again for the same alleged crime in the future. <!-- -->\u00a0<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Here, amid extraordinary political pressure and public pronouncements from President Trump demanding action, and in apparent disregard for their special duties as prosecutors, USAO-DC rushed to obtain a public felony indictment,&#8221; the filing states, using an acronym for the United States Attorney&#8217;s Office in the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Defying both decency and common sense, the government proceeded to indict Mr. Hearn before it had obtained or evaluated the information necessary to establish a good-faith basis for the charge,&#8221; the filing continued.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"oLzSq QrHMO fnRUo pvsTF EhJPu vPlOC zNYgW OsTsW RMeqy daRVX ISNQ sKyCY eRftA acPPc MENS nFwaT MCnQE mEeeY SmBjI xegrY rPLsU iulOd NIuqO zzscu lzDCc aHUBM IEgzD OjMNy eQqcx SVqKB GQmdz jaoD VWDdR ONJdw vrZxD OnRTz gbbfF roDbV GPGwb oMlSS gfNzt oJhud eXZcf zhVlX \">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage GpQCA lZur asrEW \" data-testid=\"prism-inline-image\">\n<figure class=\"kzIjN GNmeK pYrtp dSqFO \" data-testid=\"prism-figure\">\n<div class=\"GpQCA lZur gIjeL \" data-testid=\"prism-ratio-frame\">\n<div class=\"FvQLF iLTd NqeUA UzzHi iWsMV \"><picture data-testid=\"prism-picture\"><source media=\"(max-width: 414px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/133d0871-eecb-4e8e-9013-e462702afadd\/reflecting-pool_1785923421555_hpMain.jpg?w=375, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/133d0871-eecb-4e8e-9013-e462702afadd\/reflecting-pool_1785923421555_hpMain.jpg?w=750 2x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 415px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/133d0871-eecb-4e8e-9013-e462702afadd\/reflecting-pool_1785923421555_hpMain.jpg?w=750, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/133d0871-eecb-4e8e-9013-e462702afadd\/reflecting-pool_1785923421555_hpMain.jpg?w=1500 2x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR SjwtZ hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/133d0871-eecb-4e8e-9013-e462702afadd\/reflecting-pool_1785923421555_hpMain.jpg\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"nMMea bNYiy Mjgpa dGwha DDmxa jgKNG RGHCC aBIU PriDW aiQHS lZur \" data-testid=\"prism-caption\">\n<p><span class=\"hsDdd OOSI GpQCA lZur VlFaz \" data-testid=\"prism-truncate\"><span><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ \">A view from the Washington Monument of the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 4, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ YNujN JGtjI aZFDu rkKLh \">Eric Lee\/Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;The Court should not leave the defendant subject to the possibility of renewed prosecution,&#8221; the filing states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Hearn pleaded not guilty to a felony destruction of property <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/Politics\/olympian-david-hearn-indicted-alleged-vandalism-reflecting-pool\/story?id=134420251\" dir=\"ltr\">charge<\/a> last month after Pirro&#8217;s office accused him of allegedly &#8220;forcefully and violently&#8221; ripping up parts of the pool floor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Citing President Donald Trump&#8217;s comments on the matter in recent days, the attorneys representing Hearns added, &#8220;That is particularly true when the President of the United States has already voiced his vigorous disagreement with USAO-DC\u2019s dismissal of the case against Mr. Hearn &#8212; saying that the U.S. Attorney \u201cchoked,\u201d \u201cfolded like an umbrella,\u201d and \u201cmade a mistake,\u201d and doubling down on the false claim that the damage was caused by vandalism &#8212; and has previously not hesitated to insinuate himself into cases that historically have been the exclusive province of the DOJ.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Should the court deny the motion to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, Hearn&#8217;s attorneys asked the court to disclose grand jury materials or to conduct a review in chambers of those materials before granting the government&#8217;s motion to dismiss the case without prejudice.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/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>Attorneys for David Hearn, who was alleged to have vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, filed a motion in D.C. Superior Court, citing &#8220;exceptional facts and circumstances&#8221; to have the indictment against him dismissed with prejudice. \u00a0 The Justice Department moved last week to dismiss the\u00a0criminal case against Hearn, a former Olympian, acknowledging the damage&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/133d0871-eecb-4e8e-9013-e462702afadd\/reflecting-pool_1785923421555_hpMain_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29192","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=29192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}