(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for David Hearn, who was alleged to have vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, filed a motion in D.C. Superior Court, citing “exceptional facts and circumstances” to have the indictment against him dismissed with prejudice.
The Justice Department moved last week to dismiss the criminal case against Hearn, a former Olympian, acknowledging the damage to the pool “was the result of flawed installation by the contractor.”
The filing by Hearn’s attorneys follows U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s motion on Friday seeking to dismiss the case without prejudice, which could still leave Mr. Hearn exposed to a future indictment.
If the motion filed by Hearn’s attorneys is granted, it would block the government from trying to charge him again for the same alleged crime in the future.
“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,” the filing states, using an acronym for the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.
“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,” the filing continued.
“The Court should not leave the defendant subject to the possibility of renewed prosecution,” the filing states.
Hearn pleaded not guilty to a felony destruction of property charge last month after Pirro’s office accused him of allegedly “forcefully and violently” ripping up parts of the pool floor.
Citing President Donald Trump’s comments on the matter in recent days, the attorneys representing Hearns added, “That is particularly true when the President of the United States has already voiced his vigorous disagreement with USAO-DC’s dismissal of the case against Mr. Hearn — saying that the U.S. Attorney “choked,” “folded like an umbrella,” and “made a mistake,” and doubling down on the false claim that the damage was caused by vandalism — and has previously not hesitated to insinuate himself into cases that historically have been the exclusive province of the DOJ.”
Should the court deny the motion to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, Hearn’s attorneys asked the court to disclose grand jury materials or to conduct a review in chambers of those materials before granting the government’s motion to dismiss the case without prejudice.
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