Case 1:15-cv-00477-LMM Document 124 Filed 05/01/17 Page 1 of 141 I(ELVIN J. COCHRAN vs. CITY OF ATLANTA, ET AL. Melissa J. Mullinax on 0212312017 l_ fN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA 2 ATLANTA DIVISION 3 ORIGINAL KELVIN .J . COCHRAN, 4 Plaintiff, 5 CIVÏL ACTION FÏLE vs. 6 NO. l- : 15 -cv- OO47 7 -LMM CÏTY OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA; 7 and. MAYOR KASIM REED, IN HÏS ÏNDIVÏDUAL CAPACITY, I Defendants - 9 10 11 a2 VIDEOTAPED DEPOSÏTÏON OF MELÏSSA J. MULLÏNAX 13 FEBRUARY 23, )ñ1'7 L4 9:38 A-M 15 BAKER DONELSON BEARMAN CALDWELL 6. BERKOWITZ, P. C MONARCH PLAZA , SUI TE 1- 6 O O L6 341,4 PEACHTREE ROAD, N.E. ATLANTA, GEORGTA L7 l_8 L9 20 2a 22 23 24 Reported by Suzanne Beasl"y, RPR CCR-B -1484 25 www.huseby.com Husebyn Inc. Regional Centers 800-333-2082 Charlotte - Atlanta - Washington, DC - New York - Houston - San Francisco Case 1:15-cv-00477-LMM Document 124 Filed 05/01/17 Page 2 of 141 KELVIN J. COCHRAN vs. CITY OF ATLANTA, ET AL. Melissa J. Mullinax on02l23l20l7 Page2 1 INDEX TO EXAMINATÏON 2 3 Examination Page No. 4 5 By Ms. Holcomb 6 6 7 I 9 INDEX TO EXHIBITS 10 11 Exhibit. No. Page No L2 Exhibit 85 35 1_3 H-maaÌ dated 12/4/1,4 from Ms. Shatrar to Ms. Rose and Ms. Mullinax L4 Exhibit 86 44 1_5 E-mail- dated 1,/2/1,5 from Ms. Mullinax to Ms. Mullinax, Subj ecL : Cochran L6 Exhibit 87 46 1,7 .Ei -mar_ l_ dated 1,/5/1,5 f rom Ms. MulLinax to Ms- Mullinax, Subj ecL : Cochran 1-8 Exhibit 88 53 T9 E-mail dated 1,/5/1,5 from Ms. Mullinax to Ms. Mul-l-inax, Subj ecL : Coch 20 Exhibit 89 5'7 2L E-mail dated l/6/L5 from Ms. Mul-linax to Ms. Ward with attached official 22 statement from Mayor Reed 23 Exhibit 90 58 E-mail dated 1-/1-2/1"5 from Ms. Mul-l-inax 24 to Ms. Mull-inax, SubjecL: Faith and Freedom Coalitíon 25 www.huseby.com Huseby,Inc. Regional Centers 800-333-2082 Charlotte - Atlanta - Washington, DC - New York - Houston - San Francisco Case 1:15-cv-00477-LMM Document 124 Filed 05/01/17 Page 3 of 141 KELVIN J. COCHRAN vs. CITY OF ATLANTA, ET AL. Melissa J. Mullinax on02l23l20l7 Page 3 ) 1 INDEX TO EXHIBÏTS 2 Exhibit No. Page No 3 Exhibit 91- 58 4 Document headed Faith & Freedom Coalition, Bates stamped 5 COA-EMAIL OO4O24 t.hroughO04043 6 Exhibit 92 61 E-mai1 dated 1,/1,3 /1,5 f rom Ms . Mullínax 7 to Ms. Torres, Ms. Byrd, Ms. Taylor and Ms. Garl-and, Subj ect : Support on 8 Cochran Issue 9 Exhibit 93 62 E-mail dat.ed t/1-3/1-5 f rom Ms. Mul-l-inax 1-0 to Mr. Binns, Subject : Fwd: Messages for Social- Media 11 Exhibit 94 65 a2 E-mail- dat.ed 1,/L3/1,5 from Ms Mul-linax to Ms. Driebe, Subject: Fwd: Messages l_3 for Social- Media 1"4 Exhibit 9s 68 E-mail dated l/]-3/15 from Ms. Mul-linax l_5 to Ms. Zellner and Ms. Craighill, Subject: Fwd: Messages for Social Media L6 Exhibit 96 68 t'7 E -maí I dated 1, / 1,3 / 1,5 f rom Lillian Govus to Ms. Mu11inax, Subject: Fwd: Messages 1_8 for Social Medi-a t9 Exhibit 97 69 E-mail dated 1/a3/15 from Ms. Mullinax 20 to Ms. Torres, Ms. Garland and Ms . Shatrar, Sub j ecL : Pres s release 2L r/:-3/ts 22 Exhibit 98 69 Press Release 23 24 (Al-so discussed were previously marked Plaintif f rs Exhibits 13 and 49.) 25 \ www.huseby.com Huseby,Inc. Regional Centers 800-333-2082 Charlotte - Atlanta - Washington, DC - New York - Houston - San Francisco Case 1:15-cv-00477-LMM Document 124 Filed 05/01/17 Page 4 of 141 KELVIN J. COCHRAN vs. CITY OF ATLANTA, ET AL. Melissa J. Mullinax on 0212312017 Page 4 1 APPEARÄ.NCES OF COUNSEL: 2 On bekralf of tkre Pl-aintif f : 3 KEVIN H. THERIOT, ESQ. KENNETH LT . CONNELLY, Esq . 4 All-iance Defending Freedom l-51-00 N. 90th Street 5 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 (480) 444- OO2O 6 ktheroit@adf 1egal . org kconnel ly@adf 1ega1 . org 7 CHRïSTïANA HOLCOMB, Esq. I Al-l-iance Defending Freedom 44O First Street, N.W. 9 suite 6oo Washington, D. C. 20001- 10 (zoz) ¡g:-8690 chol-comb@adf 1ega1 . org 11 On beLral-f of the Defendants: 1-2 KATHRYN J. HINTON, Esq. 13 Baker Donelson Bearman Cal-dwel-l- 6¿ Berkowitz, P.C. L4 341-4 Peachtree Road, N. E. Monarch Plaza, Suite 1-600 l-5 Atlanta, Georgia 30326 (qoq) zzL-65L2 l-6 khinton@bakerdone I son . com L'7 Al-so Present: Kelwin J. Cochran l-8 L9 Videographer: Brandon Brantley 20 2L 22 23 24 25 www.huseby.com Huseby,Inc. Regional Centers 800-333-2082 Charlotte - Atlanta - Washington, I)C - New York - Houston - San Francisco Case 1:15-cv-00477-LMM Document 124 Filed 05/01/17 Page 5 of 141 KELVIN J. COCHRAN vs. CITY OF ATLANTA, ET AL. Melissa J. Mullinax on 02123120L7 Page 5 ) 1 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: This is the 2 beginníng of Media Number 1- in the 3 deposition of Mel-issa Mullinax in the 4 matter of Kelvin Cochran versus City of 5 Atl-anta, êt âf . , Case Number 1: l-5-cv- 00477 . 6 Today's date is February 23rd, 2017. 7 The time on the monitor is 9:38 a.m. My I name is Brandon Brantley. Irm the 9 videographer. The court reporter is 1_0 Suzanne Beasley. We are here with Huseby l- 1- Global Litigation. T2 Counsel-, please ínt,roduce yourselves, 1_3 after which the court reporter wíl-l swear ) I4 in t.he witness. 15 MS. HOLCOMB: Christiana Holcomb, T6 Ken Connelly and Kevin Theriot for the t7 Plaintiff Kelvin Cochran. 18 MS . HINTON: Kathryn Hinton for the t9 Defendants. 20 (The signature of t,he wit,ness Lo the 2T deposition was reserved. ) 22 MELISSA .] . MULLINAX, 23 having been duly sworn, was examined and testified 24 as follows: 25 ) www.huseby.com Huseby,Inc. Regional Centers 800-333-2082 Charlotte - Atlanta - \ilashington, I)C - New York - Houston - San Francisco Case 1:15-cv-00477-LMM Document 124 Filed 05/01/17 Page 6 of 141 KELVIN J. COCHRAN vs. CITY OF ATLANTA, ET AL. Melissa J. Mullinax on02l23l20l7 Page 6 1 EXAMINATÏON 2 BY MS. HOLCOMB: 3 O. Good morning, Ms . Mull-inax. 4 A. How are you? 5 O. I'm well-, thank you. How are you? 6 A. Good. 7 O. ï'm Christiana Holcomb. Ttm one of the I attorneys representing the plaintiff Kelvin Cochran 9 in this case. 10 Ir,loul-d you please state and spell your full 11 legaI name? t2 A. Sure. It's Melissa June Mullinax. 13 M-e-1-i-s-s-a,.Tune, Mullinax, M-ü-1-1-i-n-a-x. L4 O. I'l-1 be taking your deposition loday. 15 Have you ever been deposed before? 1"6 A. Yes. L7 O. And in what situation? 18 A. In a case involving an Indian tribe in T9 Mississippi. 20 O. Vüell, I'd like to go ahead and go over a 2T few introductory mat.ters, just so that wetre on the 22 same page regarding the deposiLlon and tô make sure 23 you understand the procedure. 24 The courL reporter and the videographer 25 will be recording both my questions and your answers. www.huseby.com Huseby,Inc. Regional Centers 800-333-2082 Charlotte - Atlanta - Washington, I)C - New York - Houston - San Francisco Case 1:15-cv-00477-LMM Document 124 Filed 05/01/17 Page 7 of 141 KELVIN J. COCHRAN vs. CITY OF ATLANTA, ET AL. Melissa J. Mullinax on 0212312017 PageT ) 1_ As a resul-t, it ' s really important that neither one 2 of us talk over the other and that v\¡e t,hat, you 3 respond with verbal- responses. She canrt very well 4 record head shakes and nonverbal- cues. 5 Also I'11 try to wait, unt,il- you f inish 6 responding before I ask you the next question and I 7 ask t,hat you do t,he same for me, wait until I've I completed my question before providing your ans\^/er. 9 And if I ask a question that's unclear to 10 you, please just ask me to clarify it. I'l-l- be happy 1-1 to do so. And if at any point later in the T2 deposition you recal-l- something that you would like 13 to add to your answer, please go ahead and l-et me 1,4 know, and we'l-l- make sure you're able to do that at. 15 that, üime. !6 You've got water. We have coffee t7 availabl-e. If any point you need a break, please 18 just l-et. me know. I'l-1 go ahead and finish that l-ine t9 of questioning and then we can definitely take a 20 break. And Irll probably want one at some point, as 27 wel]. 22 A. Okay. 23 O. Now I'm going to ask you a couple of 24 questions related just to your condit,ion t,oday.