Andrea Gomez

ontoozstudio

loomings*

landscape

figures

courtroom

drawings

contact

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

Mr. Passaro was hired by the US government and also prosecuted by the US Justice department.

Abdul Wali

Mr. Wali was an Afghani who voluntarily and cooperatively allowed himself to be questioned by CIAin his village.

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 trtial 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. If these decisions had been reversed, the Passaro case would have been landmark.

A Slide of the victimized detainee, Abdul Wali, was shown behind the defendant, David Passaro.

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.

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.

Cadaver slides were part of the prosecution's evidence.

The j udge had disallowed any images released to the press of Abdul Wali. I quickly sketched the cadaver slides when they were presented as evidence in an effort to prepare images of Mr. Wali for the public. Before they could be used however for the evening broadcast, the court finally relented and allowed the release of Mr. Wali's photograph.

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.

Judge Webb

While Mr. Passaro's girlfriend was testifying, the lawyers were called to the bench. Mr. Passaro pleadingly gestured to the witness while lJudge 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: April, 2008