FUSING JOURNALISM AND ART

EVIDENCE MAY BE SKETCHY, BUT NOT THIS COURTROOM ARTIST’S DRAWINGS

Mike James

Federal courts have long banned cameras. But state judges have wide discretion in allowing televised trials.

The O.J. Simpson murder case, the so-called Trial of the Century, was among the first to be broadcast live on television. The prolonged media circus, however, was sharply criticized after Simpson’s acquittal and is believed to have led to judges becoming more reluctant to allow cameras in the courtroom.

Good News for Mona Shafer Edwards, she has been sketching trials for Los Angeles television stations for more than 35 years.

Edwards had been a fashion illustrator, who thought her skills could translate to the courtroom. “I told my husband, ‘That’s what I want to do. I can do that.'” 

KNBC gave her a shot in 1979, sending her to the “palimony” trial of actor Lee Marvin. In the years since, she has sketched the McMartin preschool child molestation case, the 1990s trial of the Menendez brothers, and the trial of the officers accused of beating Rodney King.

Edwards has captured the emptiness in the eyes of“Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez, the unsmiling face of O.J. Simpson, and the ever-changing features of Michael Jackson.

She says judges often discreetly reach out to her to buy a sketch after big trials, and attorneys are known to hang sketches of themselves in their offices.

Her work fuses journalism with art. She’ll watch a trial for hours before ever putting pencil to paper. 

“She’s the public eye in the courtroom,” said retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald Rose. “She’s able to capture the emotion that is felt by everyone in the courtroom in a way that a camera never could.”

Edwards won’t say how much she charges TV stations. But she has never been busier. “I always wonder, is this the last job? Is this my last story?” she said. “But then the phone rings.”

There’s always another Trial of the Century.