Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted on one count of malicious destruction of property in what his lawyers call the government’s “concocted” account.
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A former Olympic canoeist who was indicted on a felony vandalism charge over an incident at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is expected to plead not guilty at his first court appearance Thursday.
David Hearn, 67, and his legal team have denied the allegations, describing the case against him as an “outrageous” abuse of prosecutorial resources by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The president has launched a variety of remodeling and beautification plans at historic sites across the nation’s capital, sparking controversy and several ongoing lawsuits. Trump last month began blaming vandals for damaging the recently refurbished Reflecting Pool after chunks of its new blue liner started drifting to the surface.
Hearn’s arraignment is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in D.C. Superior Court. His supporters plan to rally outside the courthouse wearing red, white and blue.
Justice Department prosecutors have in recent days begun formally charging several people arrested at the Reflecting Pool, though the other cases thus far are misdemeanors, and only Hearn faces a felony count.
In Hearn’s telling, a piece of the pool’s newly installed liner had come apart as he was biking in the area on June 19, and he reached down to grab the flap without removing it.
“I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything,” he told The Washington Post in an interview after his arrest.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro painted a starkly different picture at a news conference last week. A Trump ally who serves as the top federal prosecutor in D.C., Pirro said National Park Service employees witnessed Hearn “forcefully and violently” pulling at the liner with both hands and turning belligerent when told to stop. By the time he was done, Pirro said, Hearn had caused more than $1,000 in damage to nearly two square feet of sealant.
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Anyone caught defacing national monuments “will be held to account,” Pirro said, and “this is a priority not only for the president but for myself as well.”
A grand jury indicted Hearn on one count of malicious destruction of property, a felony under D.C. law that carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years if convicted at trial.
Arraignments tend to be brief, and prosecutors usually are not required to present evidence at that early stage of the legal proceedings. But new details about the case could emerge from Justice Department lawyers, defense attorneys or Judge Carmen McLean, who will preside over the hearing.
Defense attorneys Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann said in a statement last week that the government’s “concocted” account of what happened at the Reflecting Pool was the Trump administration’s “effort to shift blame for their own failures.”
Three other people have been charged with misdemeanor vandalism offenses in connection with the Reflecting Pool and had arraignment hearings Wednesday.
In each case, police allege in court records the person peeled and removed a piece of paint from the pool. Police said one person was holding a piece of the liner in his hand and told an officer he had torn it off. Another had a piece in her purse, authorities alleged. Two of the people declined to comment; the other could not be reached for comment.
A key question in all the cases will be whether the defendants damaged the liner or simply picked up floating debris. Some critics say the Trump administration, which awarded a no-bid contract to install the liner ahead of this year’s July Fourth festivities, rushed and botched the job.
Supporters have rallied around Hearn and have backed his defense.
Allen Mayers, a retired software developer who has known Hearn for the past three decades, said he set up a GoFundMe page to cover his friend’s legal fees. He posted the fundraiser link under videos of Pirro’s news conference detailing the alleged felony.
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