WASHINGTON — A D.C.Superior Court judge has permanently banned Jeanine Pirro’s office from bringing charges against a former Olympic canoeist over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Judge Todd Edelman entered an order on Thursday that dismissed the case with prejudice.Attorneys for David “Davey” Hearn and the U.S.Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia sparred in court last month over whether Hearn’s Reflecting Pool case should be dismissed with prejudice, meaning prosecutors would be barred from bringing another case against him.
At the center of much of the discussion: Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Pirro’s office and his decision to link his desire for prosecution to the political beliefs of Hearn and one of his attorneys, Norm Eisen.Pirro’s office dropped the case in late July after evidence showed the area was already damaged, and Hearn’s team moved to ban the office from bringing another case in August.At an unrelated press conference last month, Pirro declined to answer several questions from reporters about her handling of the Reflecting Pool case.Former Olympian David Hearn outside D.C.
Superior Court in July.Daniel Heuer / Bloomberg via Getty Images filePirro’s office wanted to maintain its ability to bring a theoretical case, even though its own evidence — that the section of the Reflecting Pool that Hearn allegedly touched was already damaged, and they can’t prove more than $1,000 in damage — would make bringing another felony case impossible.“What future prosecution could even occur?” Edelman asked at the hearing.
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