A judge permanently dismisses former Olympian's Reflecting Pool charges

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, left, and his attorney Norm Eisen, right, leave D.C. court with a smile in early September after a hearing about the dismissal of his vandalism charges. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

A judge has dismissed with prejudice the government's vandalism charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn. That means federal prosecutors cannot refile them in the future, despite President Trump's public demands to do so.

In fact, as D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman explained in a 26-page ruling released Thursday, the case should be permanently closed in large part because of the "political pressure brought by the President of the United States upon his subordinate officers."

"While the prosecutors admit that the evidence indicates that he committed no crime, the President's statements create a risk that Mr. Hearn will be prosecuted nonetheless, either because the current United States Attorney and her assistants will eventually yield to his public pressure campaign or because the President will replace them with prosecutors more likely to carry out his wishes," wrote Edelman, an Obama appointee.

Hearn, 67, was arrested at the Reflecting Pool in June, around the time its multimillion-dollar new blue lining started noticeably peeling off in chunks. He was charged with one felony count of property destruction and quickly indicted by a grand jury , though he pleaded not guilty .

In late July, however, with a trial start date — and the prospect of up to 10 years in prison if convicted — looming, Pirro's office abruptly asked the judge to drop the charges against Hearn and three others altogether.

Citing new reports from the Department of the Interior and National Park Service, federal prosecutors admitted that the Reflecting Pool damage was, in fact, "the result of botched installation and not vandalism."

Trump disagreed, and publicly urged Pirro to revisit the case — which Thursday's ruling prevents.