The first full day of testimony at the trial of now admitted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was intensely moving. I’ve heard equally disturbing testimony before, at the McVeigh and Moussaoui trials, but by the end of the day it was a struggle to keep it together, especially when the father of Martin Richard testified.
I’ll just post the sketches and let them speak for themselves.
Courtroom sketching is a form of visual journalism or reportage drawing that is slowly dying out. Where once upon a time news organization each had their own artist covering a story, today a “pool” artist often sketches for all. It is a demanding and stressful discipline where the drawing is often done directly and under tight deadline.
After forty-five years of news sketching in courtrooms and congress I’m calling it quits. It’s been sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating, almost always interesting. I’ve been lucky to work with some really great people. Don’t think I’ll miss it, but a little scared of not having a deadline.
While I won’t be sketching in court anymore, I may continue to post to this blog from time to time. Not sure what that might be. I’m about to start a new assignment documenting infrastructure and construction. Could be interesting.
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