US drops Reflecting Pool case, admits damage due to botched renovation

The US Justice Department on Friday dropped its case against a former Olympian accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the hurried renovations ordered by President Donald Trump had been botched. David Hearn, 67, had been charged with felony vandalism in federal court, which carried a potential sentence of 10 years in jail. Federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro had announced the charges in a high-profile press briefing earlier this month, saying witnesses had viewed Hearn "forcefully and violently" pulling up the pool's new liner on June 19. But in a court filing on Friday, Pirro said new revelations "undermine the evidentiary basis for the indictment," and moved for dismissal. She said that new documents indicate that the damage to the landmark "was the result of a botc