Richard Haynes (criminal lawyer)

Richard "Racehorse" Haynes (April 3, 1927 – April 28, 2017) was a Texas criminal defense attorney. He became a star of the legal world after prevailing in a series of seemingly impossible murder trials in Texas in the 1970s and 1980s. Time magazine named him one of the top defense attorneys in the nation.

A native of Houston, Texas, Haynes graduated from the University of Houston Law Center in 1956, and was admitted to the State Bar of Texas on April 23, 1956. He was involved in landmark cases such as The State of Texas v. John Hill (a basis for the book Blood and Money), and the notorious T. Cullen Davis murder and later solicitation of murder trials in Fort Worth, Texas, both of which ended in acquittals. He also represented Morganna, a.k.a. "The Kissing Bandit," and Vicki Daniel, who was the wife of Price Daniel Jr.. His successful defense of Vicki Daniel established battered spouse syndrome as a legal defense in the state of Texas.

Haynes described the secret to his legal advocacy as having an answer to any question from a judge or prosecutor, or being prepared to change the subject. At an American Bar Association seminar in New York in the late 1970s, Haynes explained how to plead in the alternative: “Say you sue me because you claim my dog bit you. Well now, this is my defense: My dog doesn’t bite. And second, in the alternative, my dog was tied up that night. And third, I don’t believe you really got bit. And fourth, I don’t have a dog.”

When he first began practicing law, Haynes would sometimes ask his clients to thank the judge and jury after their acquittal. He ended the practice after one client said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank each and every one of you. And I promise you that I will never, ever do it again.”

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