The DOJ moved to drop the case Friday. Will a federal judge dismiss the Reflecting Pool charges against David Hearn before Aug 10?

The U.S. Justice Department moved on July 31, 2026, to drop the destruction-of-property case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. In a court filing, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia acknowledged that newly produced documents from the Interior Department showed the damage stemmed from flawed installation by the contractor, combined with a rushed schedule tied to America 250 events around Independence Day, rather than from deliberate vandalism as originally alleged. Officials said it was difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt. A federal judge formally dismissed the case in an order filed August 6, 2026, with reporting on the dismissal published August 7. The judge said he would separately address whether the dismissal would be with or without prejudice, an issue that remained contested between prosecutors and Hearn's attorneys. The dismissal came before the market's August 10, 2026 deadline, and the Predict Six community, which had priced the outcome at 69 percent likelihood, correctly predicted the case would be dismissed.