WBAL reports a jury of eight women and four men was seated on Wednesday in the trial of Officer William Porter, who is one of the six police accused in Freddie Gray’s death. There were no cameras in the courtroom, but Arthur Lien was there providing visuals.
As is the case with most trials, cameras were barred inside the courtroom during the trial. So, courtroom sketch artists are allowing people who aren’t in the media a window inside. Lien is a courtroom artist for the social media age, posting on the Twitter handle @courtartist as well as on his website. His other recent work includes Supreme Court arguments and the sentencing of former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle.
The space provided by Twitter allows Lien room to go outside the main action, such as a sketch of reporters inside the courtroom. Lien’s captions are another highlight. One sketch points to the human needs in the halls of justice.
Lien writes, “#FreddieGray jury pool member stands up, points to clock, points to belly . . . when’s lunch ???”
I thought the jury was to remain anonymous? How is that if he is drawing pictures of them and posting them online?
In cases where the jury is to remain anonymous, artists typically draw the jury without faces. If you’ll click on the links in the post you can see the sketches, which include only an outline of the jurors.
And WYPR is reporting that the jury is eight women four men, not eight men four women; eight black four white. Is there a disconnect here?
Yep. We flipped it. Thanks for catching our error.