Last Friday, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro filed a Motion to Dismiss without prejudice an indictment filed against former U.S. Olympian David Hearn. Hearn was indicted in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on a single count of destruction of property worth $1,000 or more, a felony charge that carries up to 10 years in prison, for allegedly damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Specifically, the government alleged he had ripped a piece of sealant at the bottom of the reflecting pool after it had undergone a $14 million renovation. Hearn has repeatedly said that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity last month.
Federal prosecutors have moved to dismiss the vandalism case saying that damage to the pool was “the result of botched installation and not vandalism.” “It was not until after the return of the indictment, that the [Department of the Interior] provided additional documents ... indicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor … and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”
Yesterday, Hearn’s counsel filed his Response to the Government’s Motion to Dismiss the indictment, arguing “the uncertain resolution of dismissal ‘without prejudice’—which relies for its effectiveness on the exercise of discretion by the Executive Branch—is insufficient to provide the appropriate relief for Mr. Hearn in the extraordinary circumstances of this case.” Hearn contends DOJ “has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to seek or reinstate criminal charges to satisfy the President, irrespective of the law or facts.” He seeks dismissal with prejudice. Hearn emphasizes the government’s motion omits crucial facts, such as:
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. It did so without a meaningful investigation into the central and obvious question in this case: whether Mr. Hearn caused, or even could have caused, any damage to the Reflecting Pool (hereinafter, “Pool”) at all. Instead, the government relied on unsworn statements and grand jury testimony riddled with uncertainties and inconsistencies, and disregarded readily available evidence (subsequently provided directly to the prosecutors in filings by Mr. Hearn’s counsel) that the liner that had been applied to the Pool was already failing because of installation defects. 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.
Notably, the government’s motion to dismiss only comes after Hearn’s defense team had investigated, developed and presented compelling evidence that showed from the start that installation failure was to blame for the Pool liner damages, which Hearn says federal prosecutors disregarded and pursued a case against him anyway. If the Court declines to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, Hearn requests the Court to grant his pending Motion for Disclosure of Grand Jury Minutes and Legal Instructions, arguing grand jury records bear on the question of whether the government obtained Hearn's felony indictment in a manner warranting dismissal with prejudice.
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