A Motion That Made Me Stop

During my years as a lawyer, I read countless motions. This one made me stop because of the government's extraordinary explanation for why an indictment should never have been sought in the first place.This is an excerpt from the federal government’s motion to dismiss the indictment against David Hearn, a former Olympian, who was accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool.DOI provided less than fulsome information at the outset of this case. However, the information subsequently demanded by USAO disclosed by DOI—which was not known to the prosecutors or the grand jury before the return of the indictment—strongly suggest that a rushed and botched installation by AIC, the primary contractor, led to the damage to the lining of the Reflecting Pool.It was not until USAO-DC repeatedly reached out to DOI dozens and dozens of times that DOI slowly started trickling information to USAO-DC. Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the…