Judge Permanently Bars DOJ From Reviving Reflecting Pool Case Against Olympian David Hearn

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman permanently dismissed, with prejudice, the felony destruction-of-government-property case against Olympic canoeist David Hearn on October 1, 2026, barring the Justice Department from ever refiling it. Hearn was arrested and held for five hours in July 2026 after reaching into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during a bike ride; prosecutors had already dropped the case once, in July 2026, after concluding a contractor's defective sealant work -- not vandalism -- caused the pool's damage. White House officials later asked DOJ to consider charging Hearn again.

Edelman wrote that the government itself had recognized "within a month" that the original prosecution "lacked merit," and that allowing a new indictment without prejudice would permit "a meritless, politically motivated prosecution" to be refiled indefinitely. The case sits inside a running dispute over the Reflecting Pool's roughly $14.65 million no-bid repainting contract and who caused the damage that prompted it.

With the dismissal entered with prejudice, Hearn cannot be charged again over the incident. The underlying contract dispute over the Reflecting Pool project is unaffected by this ruling.