Courtroom Drawings

For a while

I sat in on the more sensational local court cases

capturing some of the action

Especially for those cases where cameras were not allowed, one could seek special permission directly from the judge to attend as a courtroom artist. Two newspapers published my drawings.

Who Done It?

My news 'career' ended in disappointment when I was turned down for publication in the San Jose Mercury News for a particular trial, because I personally knew the murder victim -which the editor feared would make my drawings ‘biased’ reporting.

Since I'd already secured the permission to draw in court on that case, I went to the trial’s first day, and sketched the accused husband, to record something of the proceedings for personal satisfaction, and to honor the memory of my artist friend. This is a quick digitally painted rendition of the accused, using Corel's program, Painter, with a photo as reference.

(He was found guilty, as I had suspected. He claimed that it was suicide, although his wife had died of 2 bullets to the head...)

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