A former Olympic athlete accused of vandalizing the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with alleged damage at the landmark.
David Hearn, a two-time whitewater racing world champion who competed in the canoe slalom at three Olympic Games, entered his plea during a brief arraignment Thursday morning in Washington, D.C. Superior Court.
Hearn faces a felony count of destruction of property after he was indicted by a grand jury last week, according to court records. He is accused of causing $1,000 in damage to the pool and faces up to 10 years in prison, if convicted, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance and set another hearing date for August 5.
The felony charge was the first following the Trump administration’s pledge to target alleged vandals that the president has accused, without evidence, of stripping the pool’s lining and pouring chemicals into the water.
The Olympic canoeist has repeatedly denied vandalizing the monument, which was plagued by algae blooms while the recently applied “American flag blue” sealant peeled from the basin, and said the damage was already done when he visited the landmark.
A legal defense fund has raised more than $140,000, as of Thursday morning.
In a press conference announcing the charges while surrounded by Department of Justice officials last week, Pirro said Hearn “woefully destroyed property” in a “deliberate act” to damage the monument and “forcefully and violently” pulled the pool’s lining.
Asked whether the pool’s lining was already damaged when Hearn touched it, Pirro said she was “not going to get into the evidence.”
“What I told you is what our witnesses saw and experienced,” she said. “Irrespective of whether or not we think there is some situation that preceded it, we can state and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he caused damage.”
Pirro said there are “about half a dozen” other cases involving alleged vandalism at the monument. At least three people charged with misdemeanor destruction of property in D.C. Superior Court have pleaded not guilty.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn, 67, told The Washington Post after his arrest. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
Pirro claims a parks employee ordered Hearn “to stop his behavior and stop what he was doing.”
“Hearn reacted by shouting at the parks employee, saying that she cared too much about the Reflecting Pool, and why did she even care, since it wasn’t her pool,” she told reporters.
She said his behavior was described as “belligerent, rude and disrespectful.”
President Donald Trump initially said a refurbishing project for the iconic 2,030-foot pool could be done quickly for $1.5 million in time for White House-backed Fourth of July celebrations in the nation’s capital. The government has now spent nearly $14.7 million on the project, which is now facing lawsuits and the scrutiny of members of Congress who have questions about no-bid contracts awarded to companies with connections to the president.
“Davey Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American,” Hearn’s counsel said in a statement shared with The Independent following his indictment.
“This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures,” the statement said. “Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative. The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.”