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A couple of sketches from this afternoon's arraignment of baseball star pitcher Roger Clemens. Clemens, shown standing next to his attorney Rusty Hardin, arrived at the courthouse several hours early to get the mugshot and fingerprinting done before the 2 p.m. hearing. Later this afternoon Clemens and his wife are expected to tee off at an amateur charity golf tournament in Myrtle Beach.
WaPo story here.
The New York Times' Adam Liptak looks at the ethical question faced by courtroom artists who take on private commissions in an article titled 'Question of Perspective in Courtroom Paintings' . The article focuses on Todd Crespi ( shown above sketching Bush v. Gore in 2000 ), an artist who clearly crosses an ethical line.
I'm quoted in the article as saying I'm “not very critical of Todd” , and it may appear that I condone his misrepresentations. I don't.
But before condemning him I need to remind myself of a few journalistic lapses in my past. It used to be common practice to have artists do "re-creations" for a news stories, and lawyers still ask to have their day in court sketched after the fact.
Today I have a bright line : a sketch artist doesn't sketch what he has not witnessed.
Once on a visit to the Folger I saw two nearly identical 17th century prints of a knight on horseback, the only difference was that one had the head of Charles I, and the other the head of Oliver Cromwell.
Two cases in Judge Gerald Fisher's courtroom :
The first, pictured above, was a preliminary hearing at which surveillance videos were played of the robbery, and murder of Prabhjot Singh at a check-cashing store.
WRC story here
Later in the day Ingmar Guandique , the accused killer of Chandra Levy, appeared before Judge Fisher during a pre-trial hearing to discuss the jury pool.
WaPo story here.
Jurors in the Rod Blagojevich trial were able to reach a verdict on only one count : lying to an FBI agent. A mistrial will be declared on the remaining 23 counts.
Prosecutors immediately announced their intention to pursue the case, and a hearing is set for next week to consider a date for a new trial.
Pictured are Rod and Patti Blagojevich as the verdict was announced in court. Patti's brother, Dick Mel has his arm around her shoulder.
Sun-Times story here.
Pictured are Rod Blagojevich and one of his lawyers, Sheldon Sorosky, waiting for Judge Zagel to take the bench and reveal the latest communication from the jury.
The jurors note only led to more confusion and speculation about how much progress they have made toward reaching a verdict. One reporter described it as riding a roller-coaster blind.
Shown above are Rod, his brother-in-law Dick Mel and his wife Patti discussing the note with a member of the defense team.
BlagoBlog has the story.
Rod Blagojevich and his wife Patti made their first appearance at the courthouse since jury instructions July 28. The are shown here as the arrive on the 25th floor and headed to the courtroom.
AP story here.
Update: The jury has a question!
Andrew Cohen on The Verdict Watch
The only news to report is that NBC's Channel 5 has scored victories at Scrabble and 80's Trivia.
A good story on what jurors in former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's trial experienced can be found here.
