The Justice Department’s inspector general told attorneys for a former Olympian previously accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that the office won’t investigate allegations of misconduct in the since-dismissed case, the attorneys said.
Lawyers for David Hearn sent a letter asking the inspector general’s office to reconsider the decision.
Earlier this month, Hearn’s legal team sent a letter to the inspectors general for the Justice and Interior departments asking for a joint investigation into the handling of the case against their client. They alleged that the federal government rushed to complete the pool’s renovation despite warnings of installation failures, and charged and publicly shamed Hearn even as information showed another cause for the damage.
Hearn’s attorneys said in the new letter that the Justice Department’s inspector general told them the alleged misconduct was outside the office’s jurisdiction and said such an investigation would instead fall under the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates misconduct committed by attorneys.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Hearn’s attorneys wrote in the letter that, without involvement by the Justice inspector general’s office, an “investigation will simply not take place,” arguing that the Office of Professional Responsibility doesn’t have the resources to conduct one.
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