Washington judge to soon decide whether to dismiss Olympian Hearn’s case with prejudice
District of Columbia Judge Todd Edelman said he will soon decide whether to dismiss the case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn with prejudice, permanently barring prosecutors from bringing charges again over the same actions. Hearn was accused of damaging the surface of the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
According to CNBC Top News, prosecutors acknowledged that they currently have no grounds to pursue the criminal case. At the same time, they asked the court to dismiss the indictment without prejudice so that, should new evidence emerge, they could again bring the matter before a grand jury.
Positions of the parties
Hearn’s attorney, Steve Levin, insisted that the case be dismissed with prejudice. He said there was no basis for preserving the possibility of prosecuting his client again over the next five years and accused the office of District of Columbia prosecutor Jeanine Pirro of acting in bad faith.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence responded that the prosecutors had acted in good faith. According to him, the public interest lies in allowing a future grand jury to consider the case if new information emerges.
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Spence also confirmed in response to the judge’s question that Hearn’s actions had no economic impact on the pool’s surface and therefore did not constitute destruction of property. Asked whether economic damage that could provide grounds for renewed prosecution might arise in the future, the prosecutor said he did not know what the future might bring.
Cause of the damage and Trump’s reaction
In early July, the 67-year-old Hearn was charged with destruction of property over the alleged deliberate and “violent” damage on June 19 to a two-square-foot section of the surface. If convicted, he faced up to 10 years in prison.
After his detention, Hearn told The Washington Post that he stopped by the pool after a long bicycle ride and touched a partially detached blue section of the surface. He denied damaging, breaking, or tearing off anything.
At the end of July, Pirro asked for the indictment to be dismissed without prejudice. She said the U.S. Department of the Interior had determined that the damage to the sealing layer had been caused by improper installation of the new surface, rather than by Hearn’s actions. President Donald Trump publicly disagreed with that assessment and called the incident vandalism. The judge asked Spence how the president’s statements could be interpreted other than as a demand to continue a prosecution that, according to the judge, prosecutors considered unfounded. Spence replied that the president’s remarks speak for themselves.
