Post by Logan on Apr 28, 2017 23:45:50 GMT -6
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston lawyer Richard "Racehorse" Haynes, famed for his flamboyant but successful trial defenses of millionaire and billionaire clients in some of Texas' most notorious murder cases, has died at age 90.
Haynes died early Friday at his home surrounded by family in the East Texas town of Trinity after years of declining health, said family spokesman Chris Tritico, a Houston criminal defense lawyer Haynes once mentored.
Initial fame came when Haynes defended wealthy Houston plastic surgeon John Hill at trial over the 1969 slaying of Hill's socialite wife, Joan Robinson Hill, whom investigators said died after eating an eclair secretly laced with E. coli bacteria.
The 1971 trial ended in a hung jury — but Hill was gunned down in the driveway of his mansion before he could be retried. The case was the subject of Thomas Thompson's best-selling book "Blood and Money," which later was made into the 1981 film "Murder in Texas" starring Sam Elliott and Farrah Fawcett.
Read more: www.houstonchronicle.com/news/texas/article/Famed-Houston-lawyer-Richard-Racehorse-Haynes-11107354.php
Haynes died early Friday at his home surrounded by family in the East Texas town of Trinity after years of declining health, said family spokesman Chris Tritico, a Houston criminal defense lawyer Haynes once mentored.
Initial fame came when Haynes defended wealthy Houston plastic surgeon John Hill at trial over the 1969 slaying of Hill's socialite wife, Joan Robinson Hill, whom investigators said died after eating an eclair secretly laced with E. coli bacteria.
The 1971 trial ended in a hung jury — but Hill was gunned down in the driveway of his mansion before he could be retried. The case was the subject of Thomas Thompson's best-selling book "Blood and Money," which later was made into the 1981 film "Murder in Texas" starring Sam Elliott and Farrah Fawcett.
Read more: www.houstonchronicle.com/news/texas/article/Famed-Houston-lawyer-Richard-Racehorse-Haynes-11107354.php