A judge agreed to drop the federal government's vandalism case against former U.S. Olympian David "Davey" Hearn and three others last week, after months of accusing them of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
But Hearn's legal fight isn't over yet: Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman has yet to weigh in on whether it could potentially be reopened later.
"We feel strongly this case should be dismissed for once and for all," Hearn's lawyer, Norm Eisen, told NPR's All Things Considered on Monday. "Davey is an innocent man. He shouldn't have to go through this a second time."
Prosecutors have sought the dismissal of the case "without prejudice," allowing them to potentially refile in the future. Hearn's lawyers are asking the judge to dismiss his felony charge "with prejudice," to close the case for good.
"From day one, the case against Mr. Hearn was motivated by political considerations and devoid of adequate factual support," his lawyers wrote in a 28-page motion filed last week. "Those political pressures have not dissipated in the mere four weeks since the government saw fit to obtain the indictment."
In the days since federal prosecutors moved to have Hearn's case dismissed, President Trump has railed against Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, accusing her of "folding like an umbrella."
And he has repeated his claims that vandals damaged the lining of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, contradicting evidence from Pirro's 20-page legal filing that blamed the peeling lining on "botched installation."
"A National Park Service career employee, a highly credible witness, saw David Hearn (ActBlue) in broad daylight vandalize the Reflecting Pool by 'violently' ripping and tugging at the Pool's somewhat delicate coating," Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social, wading back into the pool discourse even as he acknowledged "there was also some contractor error."
Speaking to NPR on Monday, Hearn described his ordeal as "Kafkaesque" and "Orwellian."
The experience has taken a toll on the 67-year-old, in terms of added stress and lost sleep. But it's also changed the way he sees the country that he represented in three Olympic Games, as a canoe slalom athlete in 1992, 1996 and 2000.
"My confidence is being tested for sure here, in what our nation can withstand," Hearn said. "But I don't think people are taking this lying down."
Hearn said he's buoyed by the support he's gotten from his lawyers, family and community, which includes "paddling buddies," "biking buddies" and "music and dance friends." His case has become a cause célèbre for people far beyond D.C., as the embattled reflecting pool has become a symbolic referendum on the Trump administration.
"I think that that has really gripped the imagination and the sympathy of the nation," Eisen said. "If it can happen to Davey, it could happen to you or me or anyone."
Hearn says he had a 'scientific curiosity' in the reflecting pool renovation
For Hearn, the fight isn't just about his future, but that of U.S. democracy.
"I feel like I've been practicing democracy my whole life," he said. "And being down at the reflecting pool on Juneteenth was part of that for me."
The lifelong Maryland resident was on a group bike ride through the National Mall on June 19 when he stopped to look at the recently repainted Reflecting Pool.
He said he had heard reports about algae turning the water green and pieces of the new "American flag blue" lining peeling off. The pool recently had been refilled; Pirro's July filing cites Department of the Interior records indicating that personnel first flagged issues with the lining as early as June 11.
Hearn said he was interested in the controversial renovation project in part because of his longtime waterproofing business.
"There's a real sort of an engineering, scientific curiosity for me about what was going on," he explained.
Hearn maintains that he dipped a hand into the pool and plucked out one of the floating paint pieces. He was promptly arrested and charged with destroying government property.
Hearn has consistently denied the allegations, which he said sting especially because of his deep-seated respect for national parks. He has been a National Park Service volunteer for the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, which runs from D.C. to Maryland, for 20 years. His own father was a field geologist in Northern California and Montana.
"You're supposed to leave nothing but footprints. That's all ingrained into my psyche from a very young age," Hearn said. "So to be accused of damaging a national monument like this is completely outrageous for me."
A grand jury indicted Hearn on a single felony count of destruction of property worth $1,000 or more on July 2. He pleaded not guilty a week later, exiting the D.C. courthouse to a sea of sign-wielding supporters chanting "Davey! Davey!"
Hearn was facing a late September trial date, and the possibility of up to 10 years in prison if convicted, before prosecutors moved to have his case dismissed on July 31.
What's next in the legal fight
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia cited Department of the Interior records that showed damage to the reflecting pool was "the result of botched installation and not vandalism."
"It is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt," Pirro wrote.
But just weeks earlier, Pirro — a Trump appointee — had announced at a press conference that "the evidence shows … that Hearn willfully destroyed property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool."
In an about-face, her filing blamed the Department of the Interior for withholding evidence that proved otherwise.
But Eisen said Hearn's legal time has filed "motion after motion proving that the reflecting pool was the same before and after [he] touched it." He said they entered photographic proof as soon as the day after his first court appearance.
"The Department of Justice finally came to their senses and dismissed the case," Eisen said. "But the justification that they gave — that they didn't figure it out until the Department of the Interior told them — that does not hold water."
Hearn's lawyers want his case dismissed without prejudice, citing the "risk of harassment and bad faith."
If not, they are asking the judge to review and potentially disclose materials from the grand jury proceedings against Hearn.
"The grand-jury record bears further on the question now before the Court: whether the government obtained Mr. Hearn's felony indictment in a manner warranting dismissal with prejudice, that is, through a rushed and misleading presentation that disregarded the absence of evidence supporting any case against Mr. Hearn," they wrote.
Eisen said they are reviewing "all legal remedies." Hearn has a status hearing scheduled for September on the dismissal question, and is feeling optimistic.
"With the power of the law, the power of the courts, the judges and my wonderful team … I feel very well-equipped to contest this, to bring democracy back to me," he said.
Copyright 2026 NPR
