July 6, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has appointed a retired assistant chief with the
Houston Police Department and a prominent litigator to the Houston Forensic Science
Center Board of Directors.
Mary Lentschke retired in 2016 after a 33-year career with HPD. As Ms. Lentschke rose
through the ranks, she served in the Crime Scene Unit, Gang Unit and managed the
Special Victims Divisions. In that role, she joined a multi-disciplinary team that using a
combination of federal grants and city dollars eliminated a backlog of more than 6,600
rape kits dating back to the 1980s and researched ways to prevent a similar backlog
from rebuilding. Ms. Lentschke worked closely with the Houston Forensic Science
Center to complete that project.
Ms. Lentschke is a graduate of Sam Houston State University and the FBI National
Academy.
Francisco G. Medina owns a successful law firm and has been a trial and public finance
lawyer for more than 30 years. Mr. Medina is a former prosecutor with the Harris County
District Attorney’s Office, and has tried more than 50 jury trials in civil and criminal
courts on the state and federal level. Mr. Medina is also a former member of the Houston
Community College Board of Trustees. Mr. Medina received a political science degree
from the University of Houston, and graduated from the University of Texas School of
Law.
Mayor Turner also reappointed Anthony Graves and Dr. Robert McPherson to the
HFSC board. Mr. Graves spent more than a decade on death row after being wrongfully
convicted of six murders he did not commit. Dr. McPherson is a professor and dean in
the University of Houston’s College of Education.
“The knowledge, experience and perspective that Ms. Lentschke and Mr. Medina bring
to the HFSC Board of Directors will be hugely beneficial in the coming years as we
move forward on this important journey,” said Nicole Casarez, the board’s
chairwoman.
HFSC is a local government corporation that provides forensic services to the City of
Houston and other local agencies. HFSC is overseen by a Board of Directors appointed
by the Mayor of Houston and confirmed by the Houston City Council. Its management
structure is designed to be responsive to a 2009 recommendation by the National
Academy of Sciences that called for crime laboratories to be independent of law
enforcement and prosecutorial branches of government.
HFSC operates in seven forensic disciplines.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Ramit Plushnick-Masti
Director of Communications/PIO
media@houstonforensicscience.org
713-929-6768 (office)
713-703-4898 (cell)
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