Prosecutors argue that the Reflecting Pool vandalism case in opposition to former Olympian David Hearn ought to be dismissed with out prejudice, which would depart the door open to re-charge him sooner or later.
In a courtroom submitting Tuesday, U.S. Legal professional Jeanine Pirro, responding to a protection movement to dismiss the case with prejudice, argued that “Dismissal with prejudice is just not essential to guard the defendant from any future danger of prosecutorial overreach right here.”
“Ought to the case be re-presented, the grand-jury course of offers intensive safety to the defendant,” the submitting said.
Superior Courtroom Decide Todd Edelman earlier this month dismissed the vandalism case in opposition to Hearn, a former U.S. Olympic canoeist, and stated he would wait to find out whether or not to grant the dismissal with prejudice.
Protection attorneys, in asking that the case be dismissed with prejudice, argued that President Donald Trump’s public rejection of Pirro’s choice to drop the fees in opposition to Hearn — saying she “choked” and calling it a “mistake” — doesn’t “present Mr. Hearn with significant finality in line with the Structure’s speedy trial and double jeopardy protections.”
“The extraordinary public and political circumstances surrounding this prosecution display a unbroken danger of harassment and renewed prosecution,” Hearn’s protection attorneys stated.
Hearn was accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in a felony indictment, however after prosecutors stated they discovered proof that the federal government’s personal contractor was liable for the harm, the Justice Division requested to drop the cost with out prejudice — which might permit them to prosecute Hearn sooner or later for a similar alleged crime.
On this July 9, 2026, file picture, former Olympic canoeist David Hearn listens as his legal professional Norman Eisen converse after he pleaded not responsible to allegedly damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, in Washington, D.C.
Rod Lamkey/AP Picture, FILE
Hearn’s attorneys, in the meantime, have requested a superior courtroom decide to order the Justice Division to show over proof as a part of discovery within the case.
Prosecutors revealed final month of their movement to dismiss the case that they obtained 695 megabytes of paperwork from the Division of the Inside after they indicted Hearn, at which era protection attorneys say they first grew to become conscious that the harm was “the results of a botched set up and never vandalism,” and that the brand new supplies “considerably undermine the evidentiary foundation for the indictment.”
Hearn’s protection group needs entry to the federal government’s proof, which they are saying is related as Decide Edelman considers whether or not to dismiss the case with prejudice.
