herotrial testimony

8/10/2019 HEROtrial Testimony

1/10


2/10

Case

No.

2Ot4-44974

ilared

foodfill;

Steven

F.

)

In

the

District

Court of

Steven

F.

Hotze;

F.N.

)

Wi1liams,

Sr.;

and

Max

)

Miller,

I

Plaintiffs

)

)

vs.

)

Harris

County,

Texas

)

Annise

D. Parker,

Mayor;

)

Anna

Russell, City

)

Secretary;

and

City

of

)

Houston,

,

Defendants.

)

152nd

.Iudicial

District

ORAT

VIDEOTAPED

DEPOSITION

VINCENT

POVIELL

December

3,

2OL4

OR;A].

VIDEOTAPED

DEPOSITION

OF VTNCENT

POT{ELL'

produced

as

a

witness

at the

instance

of

the

Defendant,

City

of

Houston,

and

duly

sworn,

was

taken

in

the

a.bove-styLed

and

nrmbered

cause

on

the

3rd day

of

December,

2OL4,

from

2233

P.m.

to 4236

P.m.,

before

Shirlee

(Sasi)

Romney,

Certified

Shorthand

Reporter

in

and

for the

State

of

Texas,

reported

by

computerized

stenotlpe

machine

at the offices of

Susman

Godfrey,

L.L.P.,

1000

Louisiana

Street,

Suite

5100,

Houston,

Texas,

putsuant to the

Texas

Rules

of CiviJ-

Procedure

and

the

provisions stated

on

the

record

or

attached

hereto.

1

1

2

VINCENT

POWELL

.

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Merrill

Corporation

-

Houston

www.

merri I lcorp.com/law

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35

vrNcENT

POvf,ELL

2/03/2OL4

A

Uh-huh.

A

right?

A

Uh-huh.

A

You

have

to

give

an audibJ.e

answer,

sir.

A

Yes.

Yes.

Irm somY.

A

Thatrs

okay.

How many

different

people

did

you

give

pages

of

the

petiton

to to

go

out

and

help

you

collect

signatures?

A I'm thinking

maybe

around

ten ten to

15

maybe.

A

Ten

or

15

different

people

that

you gave

a

coPy

of

--

of the

petition

pages

to

and

asked

them,

I'Vould

you

rty

t

aII

go

out

and

collect

signatures

and

then

give

me back

the

pages

rrr

right?

A

Yes.

A

Okay.

And

you

did

all ten

or

15

of

those

people

actually

go

out

and

coJ-J.ect

signatures

for

you?

A Yes.

And

most

--

I if

I if

I was

performing,

I

might say

something

and

say,

rtYou

can

sign

up

in the

back.

"

It

would

be

very

brief.

A

okay.

A But --

yeah.

A

So,

all

ten or

15 of

those

people, in fact,

went

out

and

got

--

got

signatures

on

their

pages

and

then

gave

you

those

Pages?

MerriJ.l

Corporation

-

Houston

m'r,r .

merri

llcorP . com/

law

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Danie

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trict

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36

vrNcENT

POI{ELL L2/03/2Ot4

MerriJ.J.

Corporation

Houston

wr,rw

.

merrillcorp

. com/

Iaw

So,

yes.

A

Vhen

people

came to them

and signed up,

yeah.

if that,'s

what

you'te

--

yourre

saying

received/

A

How many

pages

do

you

think

those

ten

or 15

people

total ere

abJ-e

to

get

for

you?

A

lrm not

sure.

A

I mean, do

you

think

A On a

percentage

basis,

I

't

thinking

proba.bly

around

maybe

60

or

70

percent

of the

signatures

were

from

other

people.

A

Sixty

to 70

percent

of the

signatures that

are

on the

pages

where

you

are

the

circul-ator?

A

Right.

A

Have

you

heard of that tezm

before,

trcirculatorrr?

A

I{hen

I

started

petitioning,

yeah.

A

You understand

the circulator

that

yourre

the circuLator

on

aLl

the

pages

where

your

name is at

the

bottom

on

this affidavit,

right?

A

Uh-huh.

A

Do

you

understand

that?

A

Uh-huh.

A

Okay. So

you

think

60

to

70

percent

of the

pages

where

you're

the

circulator are

--

have

signatures

that

nere

gathered

by

someone that

you

asked

to

go

out

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53

vrNcENT

POV|ELL

t2/03/2OL4

appearing

thereto

was

made

in my

plesence

on

the day

and

date

it

purports

to

have

been

made.rr

Do

you

see

that?

A

Yes.

A

Okay.

You understood

that

you

lvere

swearing

under

oath that

each

signature

on

these

pages

was

made

in

your

presence, rght?

A

lfell, that'

s

what

I

tve

swotn

to,

yes

.

A

Thatts

what

you

swore

to,

right?

A

Utt-huh.

C

And

you

understand

that

thatrs

not

true,

correct,

sir?

Not every

signature

on

this

Page

or on

any

of

these

pages,

they

were

not

all

made in

your

presence,

rght,

sir?

A

Right.

A

And then

it

says

"on

the

day

and date

it

pur^ports

to have

been

made."

Ias tha

--

was that

true,

that

al-l these

signatures

were actually

put

on

the

petition

on

the

on

the

date

hat'

s set

forth

next

t'o

the

signature?

A

Yeah,

it

was in

bold

--

I

mean,

I'l thinking

if

they

put

the

date

there,

they

wete nade

on

that'

day.

A

But

you

didn't collect

them

and

so,

therefore'

you

can't

testify

under

oath

that that's,

n

fact,

true

A

Right.

Merril

Corporation

-

Houston

merriJ-J.corP.

com/Iaw

25

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9800

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Chris

Danie

lDis

trict

Cle

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vrNcENT

POIELL

-

t2/O3/2Ot4

these signatures

or

whether

someone

else

collected these

signatures

on

page

5079,

right, sir?

A

No.

A

Okay.

Look at

the first

and

second

lines

of

this

page.

Do

those

look like the

same

handwriting to

YOu,

Sir?

A

Does

is look

Like the

same?

A little bit

it

does.

A I

does,

right, sir?

A

Yeah. The'--

the

signature

may be

a little

different,

but

it's

--

yeah.

A

And

the

handwriting

on

lines 1

and

2 looks an

awful

like the

handwriting

in

lines

4 and

5, right?

A

4

and

5

--

yeah.

A

And the

handwritings

in in

line 1

and

2

and

4

and

5

looks

an awfuJ-

like the

handwriting

in lines

L2,

L3, L4 and

15, right?

A

Yeah, they

are similar

as

far

as

like big and

litt1e.

I'm

not

--

I donrt

study like

--

yeah.

A

So

when

you

--

when

you

swore

under

oath

here

that

alJ.

the

signatures

t'ere made in

your

Presence,

that

wasntt

true,

was

it, sir?

A

They were

not in

my

ptesence.

A

Okay.

Ard when

you

swore under

oath that these

were

all

genuine

signatures

of the

person whose ntme

Merrill Corporation

Houston

r'hnY

.

merrilJ.co4)

.

com/ law

25

1-888-513-9800

U

noffi

cial

CopyOff

iceof

Chris

Danie

lDis

trict

Cle

rk


8/10


9/10

Case

No.

2OL4-44974

,fared

foodfill;

Steven

F.

)

fn the

District

Court of

Steven

F.

Hotze;

F.N.

)

fiJ.liams,

Sr.

;

and

Max

)

Miller,

I

, Plaintiffs

)

)

vs.

)

Hanis

CountY,

Texas

)

Annise

D.

Parker,

Mayor;

)

Anna

Russell, City

)

Secretary;

and

City

of

)

Houston,

)

Defendants.

)

152nd

Judicial.

District

REPORTER

I

S CERTIFICATE

ORJAT

VIDEOTAPED

DEPOSITION

OF

VINCENT

POT{ELL

December

3,

20LA

L

t

Shirlee

(Sasi)

Romney,

Certified

Shorthand

Reporter

in

and

for the

State

of

Texas, hereby

certify

to the

foJ-J.owing:

That

the

witness,

VINCENT

POI{ELL,

was

duly

sworn

and

that

the transcript

of the

deposition

is a true

record

of the

testimony

given

by

t'he

witness;

That

the

deposition

transcript

was duJ.y

srbmitted

on

to the

witness

or to

the attorney

for

the

witness

for

examination,

signatlre'

and return

to

me

by

That

pursuant

to

nformation

given

t'o the

deposition

offcer

at

the time

Eaid

testimony

was taken,

the

folIowng

includes

aII

parties

of

record

and

the

amount

of time

used

by each

party

at the

time of

the

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POVELL

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MerriJ.l Corporation

Houston

rnil .

merriJ.

lcor? .

com/ law

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vrNcENT POVELL

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MerriJ.J.

Corporation

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merrillcorp.

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deposition:

Mr. Andy

Taylor

(0h0m)

Attorney

for

Plaintiffs

Ms.

,fudith

Rannsey

(0h0m)

Attorney for

Arnise

D. Parker,

Mayor

Mr. Seth

Isgur

(0h0m)

At,torney

for

Anna

Russell, City

Secretary

Mr. Alex

Kaplan

(1h39m)

Attorney

for City of

Houston

That a

copy of this

certificate

was served on

all

parties

shown

herein

on

with the

Clerk.

I further

certify

that

I

am

neither

counsel

for,

related to,

nor

employed

by

any

of

the

parties

in

the

action

in which

this

proceeding was

taken, and

further

that

I

am

not financially

or

otherwise

interested

in

the

outcome

of this

action.

Further certification

requirements

pursuant

to

Rule

2O3

of the

Texas

Code

of Civi]-

Procedure

will

be

complied

with after

they

have occurred.

Certified

to

by

me on

ths

_

day

|

-'

Shirlee

(Sas

Romney, CSR

Texas

CSR

975

E:qrration:

L2/3L/2OL5

MERRILL LEGAT SOLUTIONS

315 CapitoJ.

Street

Houston, Texas 77002

Firm No.

2LO

1L3

.426.

0400

and

filed

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