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EXHIBIT 16

VINCENT POWELL

1210312014

No. 2Ot4-44974
ilared foodfill; Steven F. ) In the District Court of
Steven F. Hotze; F.N.
)
Wi1liams, Sr.; and Max )
Miller,
I
Plaintiffs
)
Case

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)
5

) Harris County, Texas

vs.

Russell, City
Secretary; and City of
Houston,
Defendants.

Anna

nie

) 152nd .Iudicial District

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Annise D. Parker, Mayor;

Da

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ORAT VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION

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VINCENT POVIELL

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December 3, 2OL4

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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.

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OR;A]. VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF VTNCENT POT{ELL'

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Merrill Corporation - Houston

1-888-513-9800

www. merri I lcorp.com/law

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collect signatures?
I'm thinking
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15:06:54

maybe around

ten

nie

maybe.

ten to

15

Da

15:06:45

you

Ten or 15 different people that you gave a coPy

A
of -- of the petition pages to and asked them, I'Vould
rty t aII go out and collect signatures and then
you
give me back the pages rrr right?

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to give an audibJ.e answer, sir.

Yes. Yes. Irm somY.
Thatrs okay. How many different people did
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give pages of the petiton to to go out and help you
You have

A
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Yes.

ffic

15:06:40

Uh-huh.

O

Okay. And you did all ten or 15 of those

people actually go out and coJ-J.ect signatures for you?
if I was
if I
A
Yes. And most -- I
performing, I might say something and say, rtYou can sign
up in the back. " It would be very brief.
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15 : 06: 40

right?

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Uh-huh.

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okay.

LSzO'7:26 24

But -- yeah.
So, all ten or 15 of those people, in fact,
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went out and got -- got signatures on their pages and

15:07:30

then gave you those

LSzOT:24 23

25

Pages?

MerriJ.l Corporation - Houston

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vrNcENT POI{ELL L2/03/2Ot4

L5:07:32

15:07:34

So,

15:07:36

yes.

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15:07:38

15:07:43

15:07 : 44

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15: 07:56

Vhen

people came to them and signed up, yeah.

if that,'s what you'te -- yourre saying received/

How many pages

lrm not sure.

I mean, do you think
A
A
On a percentage basis, I 't thinking proba.bly
around maybe 60 or 70 percent of the signatures were
from other people.
Sixty to 70 percent of the signatures that are
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on the pages where you are the circul-ator?

nie

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Right.

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Have you heard

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that yourre
You understand the circulator
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the circuLator on aLl the pages where your name is at
the bottom on this affidavit, right?

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15:08:17

I{hen I started petitioning, yeah.

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of that tezm before,

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trcirculatorrr?

Uh-huh.

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Do you understand that?

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10

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15

people total !ere abJ-e to get for you?

15:08:00

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do you think those ten or

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Uh-huh.

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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MerriJ.J. Corporation
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Houston
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vrNcENT POV{ELL L2/03/2OL4

L5:23:24

L5:23:26

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hey, sign this, sign this. They announce it at the

Iike right before church is over, rrThis is what werre
doing; f you're interested, sign the petition as you 9o
out. I' So it' s kind of like sign it.
But I thought I signed that one. But -and I also thought I signed this one, too. So -- but -yeah. So, I donrt remember I don't think it was the
actuaL person holding the actual petition, if that' makes

15223:46

sense.

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Can you testify under oath here today that Your

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n fact, signed the petition or yourre not sure?
lrm not sure.
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Okay. Do you know someone named Monica Powell?
A
Monica PoweII? No.
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are you a married man, sir?
Do you have
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No.

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Okay. Do you have a sister or a cousin

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Monica?

No.

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named

Okay. Let's keep going on the oath. So, it

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says, "I, Vincent Powell, I arn one of the signers of the
It says ttthat the statements made
above petition.t'
therein are true. r' Do you see t'hat?
A
Uh-huh.
Okay. Then it says wand that each sgnaure
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MerriLJ- Corporation
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vrNcENT POV|ELL t2/03/2OL4

15224:.21

appearing thereto was made in my plesence on the day and

L5:24:26

date it purports to have been made.rr Do you see that?

24:29

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L5224:36

15:24:39

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L5:24: 43

Yes.

Okay. You understood that you lvere swearing

under oath that each signature on these pages was made
in your presence, rght?
lfell, that' s what I tve swotn to, yes
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Thatts what you swore to, right?
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Utt-huh.

nie

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C And you understand that thatrs not true,

correct, sir? Not every signature on this Page or
any of these pages, they were not all made in your
presence, rght, sir?

10

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Right.

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And then it says "on the day and date it

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the signature?
Yeah, it was in bold -- I mean, I'l thinking if
A
they put the date there, they wete nade on that' day.
But you didn't collect them and so, therefore'
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you can't testify under oath that that's, n fact,

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true

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pur^ports to have been made." Ias tha -- was that true,

t'o

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that al-l these signatures were actually put on the

on the date hat' s set forth next
petition on the

Un
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Right.

Merril Corporation 1-888-513- 9800

Houston
merriJ-J.corP. com/Iaw

57

vrNcENT POIELL

- t2/O3/2Ot4

15:28:34

these signatures or whether someone else collected these

15:28:36

signatures on page 5079, right, sir?

15:28:39

15:28:39

LSz28z44

Okay. Look at the first and second lines of

A
this page. Do those look like the same handwriting to

L5:28:47

YOu, Sir?

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No.

is look Like the same? A little

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does.

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I does, right, sir?

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Yeah. The'-- the signature may be a little
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different, but it's -- yeah.
A And the handwriting on lines 1 and 2 looks
awful like the handwriting in lines 4 and 5, right?

4 and 5 -- yeah.
in line 1 and 2 and
A And the handwritings in
4 and 5 looks an awfuJ- like the handwriting in lines L2,
L3, L4 and 15, right?
Yeah, they are similar as far as like big and
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I'm not -- I donrt study like -- yeah.

So when you -- when you swore under oath here
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that alJ. the signatures t'ere made in your Presence, that
wasntt true, was it, sir?
They were not in my ptesence.
A
Okay. Ard when you swore under oath that these
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were all genuine signatures of the person whose ntme

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Merrill
1-888-513-9800

Corporation

Houston
r'hnY .

merrilJ.co4)

com/ law

61

VINCEN POT{ELL L2/03/2OL4

L5:34 : 4L

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Okay.

Look at lines 9, 10,

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looks awfully similar, does it
9, 10, IL, L2?
A
Yes, sir.
A
Yeah. The signature
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but as far as the print part,

LL, L2. The handwriting

not, sir?

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nie

15:34:34

on Page 5081, sir?

Da

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L5:34:26

to just get signatures.

Look -- are you still
A

is a little bit different

it is similar.
But sitting here today, will you stand by your
A
affidavit on that Page that those are genuine signatures
that !'ere made in your Presence?

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Absolutely not.

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Right. No, because I mean like you said,
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I wasntt there. And so
Turn to page 5088. Is any of the handwriting
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on this page your handwriting?
My handwriting as far as uP here?
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15:33: 43

already knew they had to sign it themselves. They

couldr't ge anyone else to sign it.
But I can't say that for the other PeoPIe
that were getting signatures because their goal was

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ASo
At, the bottom is
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1-888-513-9800

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handwriting.

MerriJ-l Corpration - Houston

vtr'$ . merrillcorp

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98

vrNcENT POVELL

L2/O3/2OL4

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
)
Case

ist
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k

) Hanis CountY,

vs.

Annise D. Parker, Mayor;

Russell, City
Secretary; and City of
Houston,
Defendants.

Anna

nie

)
)

) 152nd Judicial. District

is

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Da

Texas

REPORTER I S CERTIFICATE

10

VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF VINCENT POT{ELL

of

ORJAT

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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

2L

by

22

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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December

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1-888-513-9800

Houston
rnil . merriJ. lcor? . com/ law

99

vrNcENT POVELL

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

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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.
day
Certified to by me on ths _

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was served on all

and filed

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That a copy of this certificate

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Shirlee

Romney,

(Sas

CSR

Texas CSR 975

E:qrration: L2/3L/2OL5
MERRILL LEGAT SOLUTIONS

315 CapitoJ. Street

Houston, Texas 77002
Firm No. 2LO

23
24

1L3 .426. 0400

25

MerriJ.J. Corporation
1-888-s13-9800

Houston

merrillcorp. com/law