Jeanine Pirro has conceded that the criminal case her office brought against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn should be dismissed. But she refuses to drop the matter entirely.
Instead, the Trump-appointed prosecutor in Washington wants Hearn’s vandalism case tossed “without prejudice,” meaning she wants the ability to revive it in the future.
Why?
Her office attempted to justify the temporary request to D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman, who will make the ultimate decision whether the dismissal will be temporary or permanent.
In a court filing to the judge this week, the prosecution cast its request as typical, while characterizing the defense request for a permanent dismissal as both unusual and premature, because Hearn can contest the validity of any new charges should they come. Pirro’s office said it sought the dismissal because it received information after Hearn’s indictment that “cast significant doubt that the defendant caused damage to the lining” of the pool. Yet it also said that the newly discovered evidence “does not suggest that there was no vandalism to other areas of the Reflecting Pool.”
Even if Pirro’s temporary request is granted, it’s unclear if or when she would seek another indictment, or what the basis for doing so would be.
In the meantime, one factor that makes this case different from the average prosecution — though not unprecedented in Donald Trump’s second term — is the president’s personal interest in it. He publicly questioned Pirro’s decision to drop the case even temporarily, raising speculation over whether her job is at risk.
Hearn’s lawyers have cited the Trump factor in support of their argument for a permanent dismissal.
“The record in this case demonstrates a substantial and specific risk that, if the indictment is dismissed without prejudice, Mr. Hearn will face renewed charges, however meritless, driven by political pressure rather than the evidence,” they wrote, adding that the “public political pressure campaign being conducted through the Executive Branch in this case shows that the government cannot be trusted to properly exercise its prosecutorial discretion.”
Edelman, who has already dismissed the indictment but hasn’t decided yet whether to make the dismissal permanent, set a hearing for Sept. 4. How he figures the Trump aspect into the analysis (if at all) could become clearer then.
Hearn will have a final opportunity to counter the government’s latest argument in a filing to Edelman next week.
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