Lentz worked on over 185 cases, including 51 homicides.  Apparently, giving the prosecutors the evidence they wanted was his only priority regardless of whether that meant putting innocent people behind bars and potentially sending them to their death.

Lentz worked for the lab from January 2012 until he resigned in March 2014. He said the department investigated Lentz and forwarded the findings to the district attorney’s office. He said the department would not release any further information about the allegations against Lentz or comment on the situation.

I harken back to my earlier post about HPD – where HPD failed to investigate 20,000 crimes with workable leads.  Harris County prosecutors have identified over two dozen cases now in jeopardy because of this one analyst.

In 2002, forensic testing at the lab was temporarily suspended because of a number of serious management, employee and structural problems, including a leaky roof that for years dripped water on stored evidence. There was also a backlog of untested rape kits, which at one point totaled 6,600, and persisted until August 2013 when the work was outsourced.

Obviously this is an extremely serious issue.  This calls into question not only the veracity of the evidence the lab submits as evidence, but raises bigger questions about the pervasive mismanagement of HPD as a whole.

Arrested for a Possession?

Arrested for a Drug Crime?

If you’ve been accused of any offense involving Marijuana (including possession of Marijuana) or any drug crime,  contact attorney Tristan LeGrande by calling 281-684-3500.

The $200,000 study was conducted by the nonprofit Police Executive Research Forum and Larry Hoover, a professor of criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University.

According to figures Houston police reported to the FBI, the city recorded the most burglaries of any of the nation’s 25 largest cities from 2004 through 2011. In 2011, Houston recorded 27,459 burglaries, with Chicago second at 26,420.

When adjusting for population among the top 25 cities, Houston has the seventh-highest rate of burglaries and of violent crimes per 100,000 residents, though Chicago is excluded from the violent crimes calculation because it tallies forcible rapes differently. When calculating the rate of violent crimes excluding rapes, Houston drops to eighth.

Why do I really think this occurred?

For one thing, let’s go back to one of my first blog posts…the large scale sting operation that led to the arrest of dozens of prostitutes and their johns.  How many officers and support personnel did that take?  How many of the resources that could have been used to investigate and track down thieves, hit and run drivers, and people who assault other people did this take – and for how long?

Why else could this have occurred?

Well I will tell you one thing that is tying up a ton of the resources of HPD – investigating and arresting people for drug crimes (and on a disturbingly large scale, for simple drug possession).  We put people in jail for pot. We put drug addicts in jails instead of treatment centers.  We prosecute trace cases again.  Get caught with even any detectable amount of a schedule I drug and you are looking at a felony charge and a possible jail sentence.

Add to this that we put people with mental health issues in prison, and things start to come together.

Yes, of course we are understaffed at HPD – but how are we using the resources that we do have?

Arrested for a drug possession offense?

Arrested for prostitution or solicitation of prostitution? 

If you’ve been accused of a criminal offense involving drugs or accused of a prostitution related offense contact attorney Tristan LeGrande by calling 281-684-3500.