Photos: Courtroom sketch artist fuses journalism and art

Mona Shafer Edwards poses next to a wall full of her courtroom sketches at her home in Los Angeles. Among the drawings is one of O.J. Simpson, top left, testifying at his civil trial in 1997. Hers is a skill that has managed to survive the introduction of photography and video.

A courtroom sketch by Mona Shafer Edwards depicts Michael Jackson during his 2005 child molestation trial in Santa Maria. Edwards had been working for years as a fashion illustrator when she saw that her skills in fashion could translate to the courtroom.

Richard Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker, is depicted in a sketch by Mona Shafer Edwards during his preliminary hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1985. “He was pure evil,” Edwards said. “His eyes pierced me and my blood ran cold.”

Mona Shafer Edwards, a longtime courtroom sketch artist, displays a drawing she did during the arraignment of former L.A. County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka. She is among the few remaining sketch artists working today, fusing journalism and art to illustrate the theatrics and emotion of the courtroom.

Stephanie Lazarus is depicted in a sketch by Mona Shafer Edwards during her 2012 murder trial in Los Angeles. Edwards first finds a feature that is prominent — anything from a hair style to lips or a nose. Then she scopes out the person’s body language, his posture and how his clothes fit. Then she draws the image in her mind, plans it out and starts the sketch.

Actress Wynona Ryder is depicted in a sketch by Mona Shafer Edwards during her trial on shoplifting charges. The key, Edwards says, is to capture the person’s spirit, to draw more than a mere portrait. It is up to her to do what a camera cannot, which is to capture the humanity in the room with a human’s touch.

Edwards’ sketch of the closing argument in the civil case against O.J. Simpson in 1997 depicts plaintiff’s attorney Daniel Petrocelli pointing to Simpson and saying, “There is a killer in this courtroom.” Edwards can easily blend in and bring into her drawings the feeling in the entire room.

Pedro Espinoza, bottom, accused of murdering Jamiel Shaw, and Judge Ronald H. Rose, top, are depicted in a sketch by Mona Shafer Edwards. “She’s the public eye in the courtroom,” Rose said. “She’s able to capture the emotion that is felt by everyone in the courtroom in a way that a camera never could.”