Richard Hibey, defense lawyer in cases of international intrigue
Richard Hibey, a Washington defense lawyer whose courtroom flair and international expertise attracted clients of infamy and intrigue, including ousted Philippines autocrat Ferdinand Marcos and Jonathan Pollard,the Navy intelligence analyst who leaked secrets to Israel, died Feb. 19 at his home in Washington. He was 82.
His son David Hibey confirmed the death but gave no specific cause.
Hibey (pronounced HIGHbee) built a reputation as an artful legal strategist in high-profile cases that were tried as much before jurors as in the court of public opinion.
During the 1980s and ’90s, he was drawn into some of the biggest international dramas, including Pollard’s espionage case and allegations that Marcos and wife Imelda looted a fortune from the Philippines. He also represented Clair E. George, a former chief of the CIA’s clandestine service who was accused of making false statements to Congress about the Iran-contra scandal, which involved covert American arm sales to Iran to fund anti-leftist rebels in Nicaragua.
In the American Bar Association journal Litigation in 1991, Hibey described himself as a legal “gunslinger.” That kind of confidence, he said, was what his clients needed.
“The administration of justice in this country is predicated on an adversary process,” he said. “I figure if I do my end well, then justice will be served. I think that is a moral position and it allows me to be able to represent people who are considered by others to be among the sleaze bags of the 20th century.”
Hibey never adopted the public swagger of some other big-name defense lawyers such as F. Lee Bailey or William Kunstler. Instead, Hibey cautiously discussed the facts of a case with journalists and meticulously avoided comments that he felt could give the prosecution an edge.
“I have no deep ideological convictions that bring me here,” he once said. “I view myself, first and foremost, as a trial lawyer.”
During the 1992 trial of George, Hibey attempted to portray the chief witness, another ex-CIA official, as the real concealer of facts from the Reagan-era operation.
Alan Fiers had pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress. Wasn’t that lying? Hibey asked Fiers on the witness stand in U.S. District Court in Washington.
“It was not a true statement,” he said.
“It was, therefore, a lie,” Hibey pressed.
“It was not a true statement,” Fiers repeated.
Hibey snapped back: “Do you have difficulty with the word ‘lie’?”
The trial ended in a hung jury in August 1992. On retrial, George was convicted but was pardoned by President George H.W. Bush before sentencing. (Also pardoned were Fiers, former defense secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and several others implicated in Iran-contra.)
During the legal saga with the Marcoses — who fled the Philippines in 1986 after an uprising brought Corazon Aquino to power — Hibey represented the couple as lawyers for the new Philippine government probed allegations of massive personal graft during two decades of Marcos rule.
In a 1986 deposition at the Marcos villa in Honolulu, Ferdinand Marcos replied 197 times: “I claim the right against self-incrimination and the right to remain silent.” In a rare bit of out-of-court showmanship, Hibey sometimes wore floral Hawaiian shirts during meetings with reporters.
Marcos and his wife were indicted in 1988 on racketeering charges by a federal grand jury in New York, accused of siphoning off more than $100 million in cash and assets from the Philippines. The disgraced Philippine leader died in September 1989 before standing trial.