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Former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn, who has been charged with the felony level crime of destroying federal property after he reached his hand into the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, will not be barred from visiting the monument while the trial commences, the judge overseeing the case has ruled.

Hearn stands accused of causing more than $1,000 in damages at the reflecting pool. During his arraignment hearing on Thursday, Hearn, a three-time Olympian, pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Hearn maintains that, while on a long-distance bike ride from his home around the D.C. area last month, he stopped at the reflecting pool to see for himself the damages that had occurred. He claims he reached his hand into the pool and touched a piece of paint that had already been stripped off the concrete to see how it felt.

“I’m a curious citizen,” Hearn said at the time, adding that the paint felt “very rubbery.”

The reflecting pool was drained earlier this year, with a coat of blue paint added to the bottom by the Trump administration, ostensibly to make it reflect more during the country’s 250th anniversary........

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