Ex-Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleads not guilty to vandalizing Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool: Not a crime to touch water

WASHINGTON — Former US Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty Thursday to a charge of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after allegedly yanking at the “American-flag blue” sealant the Trump administration installed on its bottom.Defense attorney Mary Dohrmann entered the plea on Hearn’s behalf during a brief hearing before DC Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean, calling her client an “upstanding” citizen with deep ties to the nation’s capital.“It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” fellow defense lawyer Norm Eisen declared to reporters outside the courthouse.Hearn was initially arrested June 19 and had claimed to the Washington Post that he grabbed hold of a “flapping piece” of the sealant that “was still attached to the bottom” of the pool, but “didn’t destroy or break or peel anything.”“If Mr.

Hearn can be charged with a felony for touching the Reflecting Pool, every American is at risk — and every American should be alarmed about this prosecution,” Eisen said Thursday.“This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to scapegoat Davey and to shift blame for their own failures.”As Eisen spoke, supporters of Hearn held up signs mocking the national landmark as the “Deflecting Pool.”“We will litigate these issues vigorously,” Eisen went on.“We have confidence in our justice system to see through this misuse of government power against an ordinary American based on a false and politicized narrative.”DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro charged the three-time Olympian July 2 with one felony count of destruction of property after personally inspecting the site and proclaiming that Hearn committed “a deliberate act” in tampering with the pool’s liner.According to Pirro, the evidence will show “National Park Service employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands...