Janet McKinzie Attorney Has Made Headlines

The trial starting today involving defunct North America Savings & Loan is the latest twist in the richly interesting career of Houston attorney Richard (Racehorse) Haynes.

The flamboyant Texas lawyer first came to national attention as a subject in the bestseller “Blood and Money” by novelist Tommy Thompson.

The book--and a subsequent television movie starring Sam Elliott and Farrah Fawcett--focused on the case against John Hill, a Houston plastic surgeon accused of killing his socialite wife, Joan, with poisoned pastries in 1969.

Haynes was Hill’s defense attorney. But the case was never decided because Hill was mysteriously gunned down in his home in the exclusive Houston neighborhood of River Oaks.

Thompson described Haynes as “witty, charming, good-looking and a splendid actor, able to summon rage, grief, scorn or the wrath of the Almighty if it seemed necessary to move a jury.”

His nickname Racehorse was not earned in the courtroom, however. It is a reference to Haynes’ high school days as the fastest football player on the field.

Haynes also drew attention in his defense of Ft. Worth oil magnate T. Cullen Davis, who was charged with murdering his estranged wife’s 12-year-old daughter and the wife’s boyfriend. Davis was acquitted.