The former American Olympic athlete accused of damaging the huge reflecting pool adjoining the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, renovated by the Trump administration, pleaded not guilty Thursday.
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David Hearn “is innocent, and we are going to fight this case by trusting the justice system to make the right decision,” his lawyer, Norman Eisen, declared leaving the court.
Donald Trump blames acts of “vandalism” for the succession of problems – algae infestation, peeling paint, greenish discoloration – experienced by the project to renovate the gigantic reflecting pool on the National Mall, an emblematic site of the American capital.
He threatened their perpetrators with prison sentences, after several arrests by the national park police.
Among those arrested was David Hearn, 67, arrested on June 19.
A former Olympic athlete who represented the United States in canoeing at the Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000, Mr. Hearn is accused of tearing off the covering lining the bottom of the pool.
He was charged in early July with damage to public property, punishable by ten years in prison.
He disputes the facts, telling the Washington Post that he “reached out my hand” to “grab the end of this piece that was hanging down, this piece that was already flaking. It was still attached to the bottom. I didn’t take anything away. »
Dozens of people gathered outside the court Thursday in support, holding signs that read, for example, “Justice for Davey.”
“This case should never have been brought before the courts,” said his lawyer at the end of the hearing, denouncing “the government’s desire to make Davey a scapegoat, in order to divert attention from its own failures.”
“If Mr. Hearn can be indicted for touching the pool, then no American is safe and everyone should be concerned about these prosecutions,” he added.
Among the other people arrested for damage, half a dozen could be prosecuted for misdemeanor or receive a ticket, said the federal prosecutor in the capital, Jeanine Pirro, at the time of David Hearn’s indictment.
