The Justice Department has moved to dismiss its felony case against a 67-year-old former Olympian who was facing ten years in prison for touching a reflecting pool that, it turns out, was already falling apart before he got anywhere near it. David Hearn, who stopped by the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool on a bike ride in June, briefly put his hand in the water and was detained by the National Guard and U.S. Park Police for five hours. The government now says the damage to the pool liner was "the result of flawed installation by the contractor." So that's where we are.
Let's Actually Explain What This Man Was Charged With
Hearn was the only one of seven people facing charges over the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool to be hit with a felony. One felony count of property destruction, carrying up to ten years in prison and a $1,000 fine, for touching a chunk of liner attached to the side of a pool during a bike ride. He pleaded not guilty in early July. His trial was set for September 28.
The pool in question is part of Trump's $15 million renovation project tied to the America 250 celebration. Trump himself had publicly framed the cases against Hearn and others as deliberate sabotage. The Justice Department, at the time, was happy to play along.
According to The Guardian, Hearn told the Associated Press he was held for five hours by National Guard soldiers and U.S. Park Police after his brief stop. He said he touched a chunk already hanging off the side. "The condition of the reflecting pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there," he previously told NBC News. Prosecutors, apparently, figured that was worth a decade behind bars.
The Pool Was Already a Disaster
Here is the part that should make your blood pressure spike. A National Park Service official testified last week that the pool had already been damaged before Hearn arrived, couldn't quantify any damage specifically attributable to Hearn, and said the same repairs would have been required regardless of anything he did. The same repairs. Regardless.
Hearn's attorneys outlined the situation in stark terms: the pool was leaking more than one million gallons of water per week, its expansion joints had exceeded their service life, and the liner already had a rip in it. The government charged a man with felony property destruction for touching a pool that was hemorrhaging a million gallons a week before he ever showed up.
The Guardian reports that the 20-page court filing in DC Superior Court cited documents showing a "rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration." U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said her office received documents indicating damage to the pool occurred before Hearn's June 19 visit, and that the liner had seen "repeated failures" and "extensive peeling" throughout installation. The contractor did this. The contractor.
The Grand Jury Problem Nobody Is Talking About Enough
While the dismissal is the headline, Hearn's attorneys flagged something that deserves its own headline. They called on prosecutors to disclose the legal instructions given to grand jurors about the elements of the criminal charge, arguing that "the grand jury transcripts disclosed to the defense thus far contain other irregularities that reflect a misleading presentation to the grand jury."
Misleading presentation to a grand jury. In a case where the government was apparently aware, or should have been aware, that the pool was already destroyed. That is not a minor procedural footnote. That is a serious allegation about how this prosecution was built in the first place.
The Pool Itself Was a Known Fiasco
To fully appreciate this story you need to understand the context of the renovation project itself. As The Guardian notes, efforts to fix the reflecting pool before America 250 had been plagued with problems from the start. The liner began separating shortly after installation. The pool turned green again after specialist aeration machines were switched off before a UFC fight on the White House lawn.
A UFC fight on the White House lawn. The aeration machines keeping a $15 million renovation from going swamp-green were turned off for a UFC fight. And then the government charged seven people with sabotage.
This was never a mystery. The pool was broken by the rush to have it ready for Fourth of July celebrations tied to Trump's America 250 spectacle. The contractor botched the installation under pressure. And rather than acknowledge any of that, the administration pointed fingers at people who happened to be nearby.
Where Things Stand Now
The Justice Department's motion to dismiss was filed Friday evening in DC Superior Court, according to The Guardian. Pirro's office is now attributing the liner damage to the contractor's rushed, flawed installation process rather than to Hearn or any of the other six people charged.
It is not yet clear what happens to the other six cases. Those individuals were facing misdemeanor charges rather than the felony Hearn was up against, but the same core problem applies: if the pool was already wrecked by installation failures, the premise of all seven prosecutions collapses.
Hearn is 67 years old. He went for a bike ride. He touched some water. He spent five hours in custody and then months facing a felony charge that could have sent him to federal prison until he was nearly 80. His trial was six weeks away.
The Dingo Take
You are supposed to believe this was a serious federal prosecution. Competent lawyers, credible evidence, the full weight of the Justice Department brought to bear on a genuine threat to public property. What it actually was: a 67-year-old former Olympian on a bike ride touching a pool that was already leaking a million gallons of water a week, hit with a felony charge because the administration needed someone to blame for a contractor's botched installation job on a rushed vanity project.
This is what the weaponization of federal prosecution looks like in practice. It is not always grand and dramatic. Sometimes it is this: a retired athlete spending months under a ten-year felony charge while the government sat on documents showing the damage predated his arrival. The grand jury irregularities Hearn's attorneys flagged deserve a hard look. Someone presented a case to a grand jury. Someone made choices about what to tell them and what to leave out. Those choices sent a man to the edge of a decade in prison.
The pool is still probably green. The contractor still got paid. The UFC fight still happened on the White House lawn. And David Hearn, who touched some water on a bike ride, just got six weeks of his life back before the case that should never have existed finally went away.
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