A D.C. judge handed federal prosecutors a sharp setback Thursday, refusing to ban a three-time Olympian from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after he pleaded not guilty to a felony charge tied to damage at the troubled renovation site.

David Hearn, 67, now faces up to 10 years in prison on a single count of destruction of property. The charge was brought by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro after President Donald Trump’s $14 million Reflecting Pool renovation became engulfed in controversy over peeling paint, green algae and construction problems.

Pirro’s office accused Hearn of “forcefully and violently” ripping up two square feet of the pool’s new blue liner on June 19.

Hearn says that is not what happened.

He maintains that he touched a section that was already peeling away and did nothing wrong.

Hours after his not-guilty plea, prosecutors asked D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean to impose a stay-away order barring Hearn from returning to the Reflecting Pool. The judge rejected the request and released him without supervision or restrictions.

For Hearn’s defense team, the ruling was an important early victory.

“The government’s evidence is weak,” attorney Mary Dohrmann told the court.

Then she delivered a line that cut straight to the heart of the case.

“It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool.”

The exchange turned what might have been a routine pretrial hearing into another flashpoint in the widening political and legal drama surrounding the Reflecting Pool renovation.

The project has already become a symbol of government embarrassment. A costly public restoration connected to Trump’s America250 celebrations was supposed to showcase national pride. Instead, it has produced images of algae, damaged surfaces and now criminal charges over who — or what — caused the pool’s liner to fail.

Pirro has portrayed Hearn’s alleged actions as deliberate destruction.

At a July 2 press conference, she said witnesses saw him using both hands to pull up and remove the liner from the bottom of the pool. When asked how prosecutors would prove the liner had not already been damaged before Hearn arrived, Pirro responded sharply: “Come to the trial.”

Hearn has offered a very different account.

“The condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there,” he told NBC News.

That dispute now sits at the center of the case.

Was Hearn responsible for damaging public property?

Or did prosecutors turn a preexisting renovation failure into a felony case against the wrong man?

Hearn’s attorneys argue that the justice system should be used to determine facts, not shield officials from political embarrassment.

“The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover,” they said in a statement.

The defense is likely to focus heavily on reporting that the Reflecting Pool’s sealant and liner problems existed before Hearn entered the picture. According to the supplied report, NBC News previously found that the pool’s sealant was already peeling before the alleged incident.

That could become a major problem for prosecutors.

If the liner was already failing, the government will need to prove not only that Hearn touched it, but that he intentionally and unlawfully caused the damage at the level required for a felony destruction-of-property charge.

The stakes are serious.

Hearn is not facing a citation or minor fine. He is facing a felony with the possibility of up to a decade in prison. He is also the only defendant facing a felony in connection with the Reflecting Pool controversy, while at least six others reportedly face misdemeanor charges.

That difference has raised questions about why prosecutors chose to pursue such a severe charge against him.

For Pirro, the case comes at a politically sensitive moment. As U.S. attorney, she has made public order and high-profile enforcement a central part of her image. But the judge’s refusal to impose even a stay-away order may fuel criticism that the government is overreaching.

For Hearn, the decision means he remains free without court supervision while the case moves forward.

But the legal fight is only beginning.

A status hearing has been set for August 5, and prosecutors will have to present evidence supporting their claim that Hearn violently removed the liner rather than merely touching a section that was already damaged.

Until then, the Reflecting Pool remains more than a national landmark.

It is now a courtroom battleground — one where a botched renovation, a felony charge and a judge’s refusal to restrict an Olympian have collided in full public view.