Courtroom sketches

While working for the Poughkeepsie Journal, I served as courtroom sketch artist, a role I was completely new at and had not expected. The editor simply told me to go to the courthouse to try and draw the particulars involved in this very high-profile murder trial, or more precisely, conspiracy to commit murder. Fred Andros, the guy on trial, was a former city official who had blackmailed his mistress into killing his other mistress — pretty awful stuff. I went into the court with just a sketchbook and pencil, drew whatever I could see and came back to the office to add color to the sketches in Photoshop, which was a much more quiet way to work than some other artists who had already gone into the court and made a lot of noise setting up easels and paints and annoying the judge. This all ended up being fairly well received and was downright exciting and made me feel like my artwork was serving a practical and important purpose.

Below is the accused when he took the stand in his own defense. It did not do him very much good.

Below, a witness is cross-examined by the accused's defense lawyer, Noel Tepper.

Below is the accused flanked by his defense team. He was eventually convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and died of a heart attack about a year later at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, close to the northern-most recesses of New York state.

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