David Hearn, who competed in three Summer Olympics, entered the plea through one of his attorneys during his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court. Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland,\u00a0was indicted last Thursday<\/a>\u00a0on a single felony count of property destruction.<\/p>\n In front of a packed courtroom, D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean did not require Hearn to be supervised by the court while he is free awaiting a trial. A status hearing was scheduled for Aug. 5.<\/p>\n Prosecutor Kevin Reddington said the government wasn\u2019t seeking any court supervision for Hearn, but just a \u201c stay-away order\u201d without specifying in court where it wanted to keep Hearn away from.<\/p>\n Mary Dohrmann, one of Hearn\u2019s attorneys, urged the judge not to impose any conditions of court supervision, calling Hearn an \u201cupstanding citizen and member of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe government\u2019s evidence is weak,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Visitors on the National Mall walk around the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta)\n<\/p>\n The Washington Monument, reflected in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, is seen behind fencing, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 2<\/p>\n Visitors on the National Mall walk around the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n Dozens of supporters, many carrying homemade signs, gathered outside the courthouse and waited for Hearn to leave after the hearing.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump ordered a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Reflecting Pool ahead of the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary this month, but the project has been plagued with problems. Workers have used chemicals to curtail an algae bloom. Trump has said the pool likely would need to be drained again for\u00a0liner repairs<\/a>\u00a0after chunks of blue coating were seen floating at the surface.<\/p>\n Trump has\u00a0claimed without substantiation<\/a>\u00a0that vandals dumped fertilizer into the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, said last week that six other people were arrested on misdemeanor charges related to the $16 million pool project.<\/p>\n Hearn\u2019s attorneys have said the charges against him are based on a \u201cconcocted narrative\u201d and \u201cshould be alarming to every American.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis indictment reflects the administration\u2019s effort to shift blame for their own failures,\u201d the lawyers said in a statement. \u201cThe justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.\u201d<\/p>\n Hearn previously\u00a0told The Associated Press<\/a>\u00a0that he was detained by\u00a0National Guard troops and U.S. Park Police<\/a>\u00a0for five hours after stopping by the pool during a 64-mile bike ride on June 19. He said he reached in to examine newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool, but obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.<\/p>\n Pirro accused Hearn of causing more than $1,000 in damage by ripping up recently installed sealant from the pool and acting belligerently toward an employee who told him to stop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A former Olympic canoe racer pleaded not guilty on Thursday to deliberately…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[157748,536,157750,142210,157749,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-392044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-david-hearn","tag-donald-trump","tag-lincoln-memorial","tag-reflecting-pool","tag-reflecting-pool-damage","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Visitors](\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26176628629070.jpg?w=620\")
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