The Houston City Council appointed Anna Vasquez on June 5 to the Houston Forensic Science Center’s board of directors. Vasquez was wrongfully convicted of a sex crime in 1998, and she served more than 13 years in prison along with three friends who are collectively known as the San Antonio Four. They were exonerated in December 2018.
The HFSC is a city-funded independent crime lab used by Houston police. It is one of a handful of police crime labs that exist outside of the hierarchy of the police. It began slowly separating from the police force in 2014 and is expected to move all of its personnel from HPD facilities into labs in October.
The lab’s independence was one of the reasons Vasquez, who was convicted on faulty forensic science, wanted to take on the appointment. Vasquez talked with TPR about her decision to join the board and what she hoped to accomplish.
