Former Olympic canoeist David Carter ‘Davey’ Hearn has spoken publicly after entering a not guilty plea to a felony charge tied to an incident at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, with his attorneys making clear they intend to contest the case forcefully.
The 67-year-old ex-Team USA athlete appeared in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, July 9, 2026, after a grand jury indicted him last week on a single felony count of property destruction. Hearn, who competed in three Summer Olympics and lives in Bethesda, Maryland, entered the plea through his attorney in D.C. Superior Court.
Although the arraignment itself lasted only 13 minutes, the legal and political attention surrounding the case continues to build. Judge Carmen McLean did not place Hearn under court supervision while he remains free awaiting trial, and a status hearing is scheduled for August 5.
“Today, he pled not guilty because he is,” his lawyers, Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, said in a statement issued straight after Thursday’s hearing, per PEOPLE.
“If he 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.”
The attorneys also argued that the government was trying to ‘scapegoat’ Hearn and
“shift blame for their own failures.”
Hearn was indicted on July 2 on one count of destruction of property $1,000 or more after authorities accused him of reaching into the Lincoln Memorial Pool during the June incident.
Prosecutors say he deliberately damaged recently installed sealing material on the pool, while his defense says he was only inspecting peeling material that was already loose. Outside the courthouse, Eisen said the defense believed the government’s evidence was “weak” and that Hearn had devoted much of his life to representing the United States and protecting public property.
After Thursday’s hearing, he was released on his own recognizance, meaning he must return for future proceedings and comply with the court’s conditions. His next hearing, a status conference, is set for August 5.
Outside D.C. Superior Court, Eisen told reporters there is “substantial” evidence that supports Hearn’s innocence and said the defense would challenge the charge aggressively.
From the outset, Hearn has insisted the situation was misread. He said he was partway through a 52-mile bike ride on June 19 when he stopped near the recently renovated pool and noticed what looked like part of the blue liner lifting away from the surface below.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” he told The Washington Post at the time. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
Prosecutors, however, describe the event very differently. According to the indictment, Hearn
“maliciously did injure, break and destroy certain property, that is, the lining material of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.”
D.C.’s U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has already characterized the alleged actions as
“a violent effort to rip up the sealing from the bottom of the pool,”
while maintaining that the government can prove criminal damage beyond a reasonable doubt, regardless of what may have caused the liner issues initially. Pirro has also said vandalizing monuments and public spaces is an affront to shared history, and prosecutors have said at least three other people have separately been charged in the same court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the pool.
The reflecting pool had undergone a renovation costing more than $14 million shortly before Hearn’s arrest, but the project has faced continued problems. Witnesses have reported algae on the surface, sections of the new liner apparently peeling back, and the pool has already been drained and repainted to address structural concerns after one algae bloom turned the water green. President Donald Trump has blamed alleged vandalism for the pool’s ongoing issues.
Attention now turns to the August 5 status hearing, where the next phase of what is expected to be a drawn-out court fight will begin.