Let’s be real:
The one who abused this impeachment process is Richard, since he thumbed his nose at it the entire time and refused to mount a defense. His strategy, as far as I could tell, was to sit back and see if the impeachment process itself would implode thanks in part to his lack of participation. And it almost did.
After the impeachment vote took place, it was too late to challenge, but attempt to challenge it he did anyway using an alt and posting a Global Mod Memechat screenshot and taking it out of context, and repeated his same clichés about everyone being a crybaby. No one was moved by this awful after-the-fact “defense” as far as I could tell.
There *should* be “due process” rights. The accused *should* be allowed to speak in his defense, or to hire a friend as a “lawyer” to argue his case.
But if the accused doesn’t actually do those things, he waives the right to a defense.