Andrea Gomez

ontoozstudio

 

loomings*

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courtroom

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courtroom sketches

Frequently when cameras are disallowed in courtroom proceedings, I am hired by broadcast media to portray

the events. In the past, I have sketched trials; illustrated recreated scenes for news broadcast; worked with

defense attorneys to create forensic drawings of the accused memory of crime scenes and other perpetrators.

I work in a variety of materials: pastels, watercolor, graphite and/or crayon.

These are paintings from the 2006 David Passaro trial.   Mr. Passaro was a CIA operative and Abdul Wali,

an Afghan detainee.  Mr. Wali had surrendered himself voluntarily to US forces for questioning.  The government

contended that Mr. Passaro's interrogation techniques inadvertently caused the internal wounds leading to

Mr. Wali's death.

           

David Passaro                                                                                                                                                                                                           Abdul Wali   

Mr. Passaro was hired by the US government and also                                              Mr. Wali was an Afghani who voluntarily

prosecuted by the US Justice department.                                                                   and cooperatively allowed himself to be

                                                                                                                                             questioned by CIA in his village.

Judge Boyle

     U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle presided. The media cast doubt on Judge Boyle’s impartiality because of a

well publicized and lengthy fight in which he was solidly in the middle. His Bush administration nomination for the

Federal Appeals Court was turned down constantly over a decade by a Democratic Congress. The reasons given

described a jurist with an agenda.
      Whether this assessment was accurate or not, Judge Boyle’s decisions during the trial certainly colored aspects of

the trial’s gravity, including his decision not to introduce discussions of the definition of torture and disallowing the

defense to subpoena George Tenet, J, Cofer Black and John Yoo.

     The judge had disallowed for the release of any images of Abdul Wali, (other than a small mug shot) i.e. a virtual black-out of photographs of the victim. The media filed a legal action to force the court to reconsider.

The Judge disallowed any representation of the CIA witnesses, even though they came in a disguise.  This disguise consisted of a very bad black  toupee, glasses, and walrus moustache.

In the reported accounts of the trial, Judge Boyle speaks directly to the courtroom sketch artist admonishing her to not draw representations of the witnesses face.   I was that artist.

.

Evidentiary slide of the victimized detainee, Abdul Wali, shown behind the

                                     defendant, David Passaro

Cadaver slides were part of the prosecution's evidence.

As Judge Boyle had not yet resolved the blackout ruling,

I quickly reproduced the images on my sketchpad in the event

the blackout was continued.  At 5:00 that day, the court

decided to release all the photographic evidence to the public.  Thus this drawing and the following were not used, but are shown here as an example of how a courtroom sketches can fill a need.

 

US Attorney Kennedy holding up the Mag flashlight

used in the beating of Abdul Wali. Mr. Wali died from internal injuries sustained during the interrogation by Mr. Passaro.

 

The defense presented medical evidence.  Doctor testifying

for the defense, suggesting that there may have been pre-existing medical conditions.   The members of the jury evidently found his testimony unconvincing as Mr. Passaro

was found guilty.

 

These pastel sketches are from the 2004 arraignment hearing of David Passaro.

All the sketches on this page were used by the NBC affiliate in Raleigh for both proceedings.

Additionally some were used by the ABC affiliate.


 

 

 

 

           David Passaro                 

                     Judge Webb  

David Passaro Testifying, Judge Webb Presiding

                

                                                 


 

While Mr. Passaro's girlfriend was testifying,

the lawyers were called to the bench. Mr. Passaro

pleadingly gestured to the witness while Judge Webb

and the lawyers were otherwise occupied.

                                   

What Mr. Passaro thought was unseen was broadcast

that evening on the local news an subsequently the

national parent media as well as being displayed on the

TV station's website.



 

 

 

All work on this site © 2004 by Andrea Gomez, all rights reserved. Unauthorized copying, reproduction, republishing, posting or duplication of any of the material on the web site is prohibited without express written permission from Andrea Gomez. The artist reserves to herself all rights of reproduction and all copyright of her work.

Obsessively updated regularly.  Last update: August 2009