David Hearn, a former U.S. Olympic canoeist, appeared in D.C. Superior Court on Thursday morning, where he entered a plea of not guilty to allegations of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Hearn is facing a federal charge of property destruction, with prosecutors alleging he caused over $1,000 in damage to the pool.
Hearn has maintained, as reiterated by his attorneys at a brief press conference outside the court, that his actions were merely out of curiosity when he touched the water in the pool.
The Trump Administration had recently completed a $14 million renovation of the reflecting pool. However, following the completion of the project, issues such as peeling paint and algae accumulation emerged, leading to widespread criticism of the renovation as a costly failure.
Judge Carmen McLean of the Superior Court released Hearn on his own recognizance, with a subsequent hearing scheduled for August 5.
Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s legal representatives, addressed the media after the court session, stating that the administration is attempting to use Hearn as a “scapegoat… for their own failures.”
“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” Eisen asserted.
Prosecutors contend that there is substantial evidence against Hearn.
This is a developing story.
