A D.C. judge set a trial date for the U.S. Olympic canoeist accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
David “Davey” Hearn is set to go to trial on Sept. 28 on a single count of destruction of property.
Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman said at a hearing Monday that he expects the trial to last a week.
Edelman warned prosecutors that government work to fix the pool is done “at its own peril.”
Hearn’s defense had entered a motion to dismiss the case for failure to preserve evidence. The judge dismissed the motion without prejudice. The motion can be refiled if the defense finds the remediation of the pool affected the alleged damaged area before the defense was able to examine it.
The defense hopes to get an expert to examine the area this week.
Hearn stopped at the Reflecting Pool during a bike ride on June 19 and touched a piece of coating that he saw was already detached in the pool, he previously told NBC News. He was arrested and detained for five hours.
“The condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there,” he said.
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro claimed earlier this month that Hearn was seen “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner” of the pool with both hands.
Hearn pleaded not guilty and has attracted crowds of supporters shouting his name.
“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” defense attorney Norm Eisen said earlier this month. “This is a case that should never have been brought.”
Hearn is set to appear at another hearing on Sept. 11.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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