Former Olympian pleads not guilty in Reflecting Pool damage case after Trump alleged vandalism

Former U.S. Olympian canoe racer David Hearn is accused of intentionally damaging the reflecting pool in D.C., a charge that carries up to 10 years in prison.

WASHINGTON-- A former Olympic canoe racer pleaded not guilty on Thursday to deliberately damaging the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a politically charged case that his defence attorneys and other Trump administration critics have derided as an abuse of prosecutorial power.

David Hearn, who competed in three Summer Olympics, entered the plea through one of his attorneys during his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court. Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, was indicted last Thursday on a single felony count of property destruction.

Before the country’s 250th independence celebrations, U.S. President Donald Trump launched a multimillion dollar renovation project for the Reflecting Pool, which was plagued by problems, including damage to its new coating. Trump, without providing evidence, has alleged the damage was caused by vandals.

Hearn has said he reached inside the pool to examine the peeled sealant and let go of a chunk when he was told to by a park worker. He is accused of causing more than US$1,000 in damage.

“Every American should be alarmed about this prosecution,” defence attorney Norm Eisen said after the hearing. “It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, said vandalizing the nation’s monuments and public spaces is “an affront to our shared history.”

“The law applies equally to everyone, and when it is broken, there are consequences,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

Prosecutors’ evidence is `weak’

In front of a packed courtroom, D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean did not require Hearn to be supervised by the court while he is free awaiting a trial. A status hearing was scheduled for Aug. 5.

A prosecutor, Kevin Reddington, said the government wasn’t seeking any court supervision for Hearn, but just a “stay-away order” without specifying in court where it wanted to keep Hearn away from.

Mary Dohrmann, one of Hearn’s attorneys, urged the judge not to impose any conditions of court supervision, calling Hearn an “upstanding citizen and member of the community.”

“The government’s evidence is weak,” she added.

Supporters cheered after the hearing

Dozens of supporters, many carrying homemade signs, gathered outside the courthouse and chanted “Davey!” as Hearn left after the hearing. Hearn joined his attorneys in front of a bank of cameras and smiled to supporters but did not speak. He raised his right hand and pumped his fist as he left.

Adam Van Grack, who chaired the U.S. Olympic national governing body for canoe and kayak sports, joined the throng of supporters who cheered for Hearn after the hearing. Van Grack said Hearn has spent decades voluntarily maintaining National Park Service property that the canoeists used as a training course along the Potomac River.

“This is a person who has devoted his life to representing the United States on an international stage, caring for the community and protecting and caring for National Park Service property,” Van Grack said. “So the idea that he is a malicious destroyer of federal property shocks the conscience and makes no sense to anybody who’s ever known Davey Hearn.”

Hearn previously told The Associated Press that he was detained by National Guard troops and U.S. Park Police for five hours after stopping by the pool during a 64-mile (103 kilometre) bike ride on June 19. He said he reached in to examine newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool, but obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.

Pool project has been plagued by problems

The pool’s renovation has been riddled with problems. Workers have used devices called nanobubblers to curtail an algae bloom. The devices infuse ozone into the water to kill algae and bacteria. Officials have said the pool most likely would need to be drained again for liner repairs after chunks of blue coating were seen floating at the surface.

Trump has claimed without substantiation that vandals dumped fertilizer into the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter. Pirro, a former Fox News host who was appointed by Trump, said last week that six other people were arrested on misdemeanour charges related to the $16 million pool project.

Pirro accused Hearn of causing more than $1,000 in damage by ripping up recently installed sealant from the pool and acting belligerently toward an employee who told him to stop.

Hearn’s attorneys have said the charges against him are based on a “concocted narrative” and “should be alarming to every American.”

“This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures,” the lawyers said in a statement. “The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.”

Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press