Lawyers for former U.S. Olympian David Hearn asked the watchdogs at the Departments of Justice and the Interior to investigate the now-dismissed federal prosecution accusing him of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The Oct. 6 letter comes less than a week after a judge in Washington dismissed with prejudice the criminal case against Hearn. The letter alleged misconduct by personnel at the departments and called for accountability.
The attorneys requested that Donald Berthiaume, the inspector general at the Justice Department, and Caryl Brzymialkiewicz, the Interior Department’s deputy inspector general who is performing the duties of inspector general, investigate the circumstances surrounding the June 19 arrest and detention of Hearn, Hearn’s indictment, and the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia’s motion to dismiss the charges against him.
“In light of these findings and the government’s own admissions, a critical purpose of the requested investigations is to collect the facts—through witness interviews and the collection and analysis of electronic media and documents—necessary to hold accountable the individuals and groups who failed Mr. Hearn, the criminal justice system, and the public,” Hearn’s lawyers wrote.
Earlier this month, Judge Todd Edelman of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia dismissed the case against Hearn with prejudice and said that there was a “unique possibility” that the office of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia could bring the case back in the future due to “political pressure” from President Donald Trump.
“A dismissal without prejudice would not account for the exceptional circumstances presented by this case,” the judge wrote.
Hearn’s lawyers celebrated the decision, calling it “a victory for the rule of law and for an innocent American seeking justice.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the office of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia for comment on the letter.
Trump in August criticized U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro for her handling of the case.
“I disagree 100 percent with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Aug. 1. “I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.”
Prosecutors in July dropped the case against Hearn, who was accused of tearing the protective liner at the bottom of the Reflecting Pool, stating that the damage was caused by a flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings. Hearn’s defense said that their client should not have been charged in the first place. The prosecution moved to have the case dismissed without prejudice.
Hearn was charged with felony destruction of property, which carried a sentence of up to a decade behind bars.
His lawyers wrote in the letter that the former slalom canoeist was “humiliated” in public when the 67-year-old was arrested by U.S. Park Police officers.
The attorneys also said the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General should investigate several matters, including the allegation that the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia’s office “rushed” to indict Hearn “on an inadequate investigative record, and despite dispositive exculpatory evidence, under political pressure” from Trump. It also sought answers on whether Pirro’s “extrajudicial statements at the indictment press conference violated applicable rules of professional conduct and DOJ policy.” The lawyers did not cite any specific statements.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior told The Epoch Times on Oct. 6 that Hearn admitted to tampering with the Reflecting Pool. However, an excerpt of a court document cited by the spokesperson only showed that a National Park Service employee said that Hearn knelt and ripped and tugged at a portion of the blue pool coating. Hearn has said that he reached into the pool to feel the temperature of the water, touched a piece of coating that had already partially detached, released it when asked to do so by a National Park Service employee, and left the pool in the same condition as he found it, according to his lawyers.
Additionally, Hearn’s counsel requested the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General to investigate 12 things, including who made the decision to proceed with Atlantic Industrial Coatings, and why department officials “continued to make publicly defamatory statements” against Hearn despite being made aware of the issues surrounding the liner internally and learning of the Justice Department’s dismissal of the case. The lawyers did not specify what statements officials made.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told The Epoch Times on Oct. 6 that “the Office of the Inspector General operates independently and makes its own decisions about what to review.”
Hearn’s case came amid the renovation the Trump administration was making to the Reflecting Pool as part of Trump’s efforts to remake the nation’s capital. The pool was drained, but shortly after it was refilled, there was algae. Trump blamed this on vandalism. The pool has since been redrained and is being fixed.
Jacki Thrapp and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
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