A D.C. judge just permanently barred federal prosecutors from recharging a former Olympic canoeist in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case — because the President of the United States tried to force a prosecution for political reasons. If you're wondering whether an ordinary American would get the same protection from a weaponized Justice Department, you already know the answer.
Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the case against David Hearn with prejudice on Thursday, citing the "exceptional circumstances" of Donald Trump publicly pressuring U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro to reinstitute charges. Trump, according to Edelman's order, "criticized the decision of the Office of the United States Attorney to drop the case in the most vituperative terms" and "demanded that the government reinstitute the prosecution, in part because of Mr. Hearn's political activity and the identity of one of his attorneys." That attorney is Norm Eisen, a longtime Trump critic. The prosecution's own evidence showed the Reflecting Pool was damaged by a "flawed installation," not by Hearn ripping up its liner, as CNBC reported. Pirro's office admitted the case was meritless — but still asked the judge to dismiss it without prejudice so she could theoretically refile.
Edelman wasn't buying it. The government "has no right to retain the ability to compound the errors it has already made, or even to threaten to do so, at Mr. Hearn's expense," he wrote.
Good ruling. Political prosecutions are a stain on the republic, and Hearn deserved protection. His attorneys called it "a victory for the rule of law and for an innocent American seeking justice," and they're right.
Now here's the part NBC and CNBC won't say: Hearn got that protection because he's a former Olympian with high-profile lawyers who could force a judge's hand. Thousands of January 6 defendants — many charged with misdemeanor trespass — spent months in pretrial solitary confinement, and no judge dismissed their cases with prejudice over concerns about political pressure from the White House or Congress. Two-tier justice isn't a conspiracy theory. It's a fact pattern that plays out every day in federal courthouses.
Pirro, for her part, declined to answer questions about her handling of the case, and her office wanted to keep a theoretical prosecution alive even though its own evidence made a felony case impossible. That's not prosecutorial discretion. That's keeping a threat hanging over a citizen's head to placate a political boss.
The rule of law means the same shield covers the Olympian and the electrician. Right now, it doesn't. And the people who notice are the ones the system calls extremists.
