Judge bars future Reflecting Pool charges against former Olympian

The federal case against a former Olympian accused by the Trump administration of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is officially dead after a Washington, D.C., judge ruled Thursday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) cannot try to charge him again in the future.

Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the case against David Hearn with prejudice, writing in a 26-page order that the Olympic canoeist faced a “unique possibility” that the government would attempt to revive the case in response to “political pressure” from President Trump.

“The Court respects the authority of the Office of the United States Attorney to decide which cases to prosecute and which to dismiss,” Edelman wrote. “However, in the exceptional circumstances posed by this case, the government has no right to retain the ability to compound the errors it has already made, or even to threaten to do so, at Mr. Hearn’s expense.”

Hearn was initially charged with felony destruction of property for allegedly ripping a piece of sealant from the pool, but U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro backed away from the prosecution in late July after concluding a rushed and botched installation was likely responsible for the damage.

Edelman granted that request in early August but deferred a decision on whether prosecutors should be allowed to charge him again at a later date. Hearn’s attorneys had asked that the case be closed for good.

“This decision is a victory for the rule of law and for an innocent American seeking justice,” the canoeist’s defense team said in a statement on Thursday.

Pirro’s decision drew furor from Trump, who lashed out at his longtime ally several times as he publicly urged her to reconsider.

“She folded like an umbrella,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Aug. 3, saying she “choked.” Trump also took aim at Hearn, referencing his prior donations to Democrats through the ActBlue fundraising platform, and he criticized one of Hearn’s attorneys, Norm Eisen.

Edelman pressed DOJ lawyers during a hearing last month to explain how the president’s comments could be construed as “anything other than pressuring your office, your boss and the three of you to charge Mr. Hearn, recharge Mr. Hearn with what you had decided to be a meritless prosecution.”

The government’s lawyers acknowledged during that hearing that prosecutors had no additional evidence against Hearn but wanted to reserve the option to pursue charges again if some arose.

Edelman rejected that possibility, saying it would have put Hearn in an “acutely vulnerable position.”

“Should the Court dismiss this case in a fashion that allows the government to reinitiate prosecution in the future, the Court would be exposing him to the risk that, due to pressure from the President of the United States apparently motivated at least in part by Mr. Hearn’s political views, he would again be charged with a crime that prosecutors have determined he did not commit,” the judge wrote.