Three-Time Olympian David Hearn Pleads Not Guilty to Reflecting Pool Damage

Summary

David Hearn, a three-time U.S. Olympic canoeist, stood in D.C. Superior Court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to a single felony count of property destruction. The charge stems from a June 19 incident in which Hearn is accused of ripping out a section of sealant lining from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, material described in court documents as 'American flag blue.' A grand jury indicted him on July 2. The pool had just come out of a $14.7 million renovation project, which gives the alleged damage its financial and political weight. Conviction on the felony destruction charge requires the government to prove losses exceeding $1,000, a threshold that a freshly refurbished national monument almost certainly clears. Hearn competed in canoe slalom at three Olympics, making him one of the more recognizable figures ever to face a charge like this at a federal landmark. No trial date has been set, and his attorneys have not publicly explained the defense theory. The case sits at an odd intersection of athletic celebrity, historic public space, and a renovation that the Trump administration has promoted as part of its broader beautification agenda for the National Mall.