A D.C. judge refused to bar three-time Olympian David Hearn from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Thursday, rejecting a government demand hours after he pleaded not guilty to a felony charge.
Hearn, 67, faces up to 10 years in prison on a single count of destruction of property — a charge U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro brought after President Donald Trump’s $14 million reflecting pool renovation was plagued by problems, including peeling paint and green algae.
Pirro claims Hearn “forcefully and violently” ripped up two square feet of the pool’s new blue liner on June 19. Hearn says he touched a piece that was already peeling off and did nothing wrong.
Pirro’s office asked D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean for a stay-away order — a legal demand that would have barred Hearn from returning to the pool. The judge said no, releasing Hearn without supervision or restrictions.
“The government’s evidence is weak,” his attorney, Mary Dohrmann, told the court.
“It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool,” she added.
At a July 2 press conference, Pirro said witnesses saw Hearn “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner” of the pool with both hands.
Asked how prosecutors would prove the pool wasn’t already damaged before Hearn arrived, Pirro replied: “Come to the trial.”
Hearn pushed back on that account, telling NBC News: “The condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there.”
NBC News reported last month that the pool’s sealant was already peeling before Hearn arrived. He is the only defendant facing a felony; at least six others face misdemeanor charges related to the pool, according to the AP.
“The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover,” his attorneys said in a statement.
A status hearing is set for Aug. 5.