Richard Keith Gilbert

Gilbert

Richard Keith Gilbert

Richard Keith Gilbert, criminal defense attorney, adventurer, friend, died at 74 in Washington, DC, on September 27, 2022. The cause was metastatic melanoma of the brain. Rich loved family, friends, travel, running with the bulls in Pamplona, politics, city living, DC sports, beer, and the pursuit of justice.



Rich was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, the oldest son of Frances Keith Gilbert and Air Force Brigadier General Raymond Gilbert, while his father was flying in the Berlin airlift after World War II. Rich completed high school in Albuquerque, NM. A graduate of Vanderbilt University (1970) and the Georgetown University Law Center (1978), he also served eight years active duty in the Army as an infantry officer in Berlin and a JAG officer in Stuttgart. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Army Reserves in 1998.



He returned to Washington in 1982, and for 40 years, was a sole practitioner specializing in criminal defense. Most of his cases were court-appointed. His love of the drama and challenges of trial law was bolstered by his passionate belief that every client deserved a vigorous defender. When he moved his energies to Federal Court, he defended clients accused of drug trafficking who were transported from Latin America to the U.S. for trial. He learned Spanish to communicate with clients and their families.



Rich also devoted time to working with the legal community. He was a founding member of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, which investigates claims of wrongful conviction, served on its board, chaired its student groups committee, and advised its student group at Georgetown University Law Center. As an adjunct professor, he taught a course on wrongful convictions at the Washington College of Law at American University.



He served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and on the Council for Court Excellence. He served as president of the DC Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and chaired its legislative committee. In that capacity, he testified before the DC Council on legislation affecting criminal justice, including the first statute nationwide that required the recording of police interrogations in their entirety. He worked with the Redbook Committee to draft standard jury instructions used in local and federal courts.



The community has lost a champion for legal justice. His friends and family have lost his innate optimism, his Friday night gatherings, his enthusiasm for adventure, his story telling and toast recitation, his presence. Rich leaves the love of his life, Sallie Strang of Washington; his brother Tom Gilbert (Diana), niece, Naomi, and nephew Drew (Holly) of San Antonio, TX; his brother Jack Gilbert died in 2012; his uncle John Gilbert of Rockville died in March 2023; his cousin and closest friend Carol Gilbert (Joe Giampetroni) of Rockville and her siblings, Anne Gilbert (Bob Duff) and Mike Gilbert (John Borchek) all of Boston; and many additional cousins and close friends.



A celebration of life took place in Washington, DC in April. Rich donated his body to Georgetown Medical School for research, and requested that his ashes be buried near his parents in Santa Fe National Cemetery in New Mexico.