[3] He was in private practice in Washington, D.C. and Chevy Chase, Maryland from 1949 to 1971, also working as a speech and debate coach for American University from 1954 to 1955.
His rulings seemed designed to delay the case until after the election and drove many interested parties, not the least of which was The Washington Post, to a state of near apoplexy.
In his book about Watergate and his personal role, John Dean related that "the case looked under control" and that Judge Richey had been "sending encouraging signals through our contacts".
[6] During this time, Joseph Califano was representing both the DNC and the Washington Post and, as he related in his own memoirs, was increasingly astonished at Richey's unorthodox behavior behind the bench.
This episode was witnessed by criminal attorney Harold Ungar, who told Califano, "Joe, in my thirty years of practice, I've never seen anything like this.