General
William J. Hennessy Jr., Sketch Artist of Courtroom Drama, Dies at 67
His lively drawings of historic Supreme Court arguments, impeachment trials and murder cases gave the public a peek into venues where cameras were banned.
William J. Hennessy Jr., a prominent courtroom artist whose sketches documented important chapters in history, including the impeachment trials of Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald J. Trump and the Supreme Court case that decided the 2000 presidential election, as well as thousands of scenes of quotidian courtroom drama, died in Key West, Fla., on Dec. 9, his 67th birthday.
His son William J. Hennessy III said that his father died in a hospital after having a heart attack in a hotel room while on vacation with his wife, Arezou.
Using colored pencils, pastels, charcoal and watercolors, Mr. Hennessy produced some 10,000 pictures from federal, state and local courtrooms, and from the chamber of the United States Senate. His analog artistry, usually commissioned by news organizations, filled a void in courts where cameras were not allowed or were restricted.
“Ideally my clients would have a camera in there, in their mind,” Mr. Hennessy said in an interview with “PBS NewsHour” in 2009. “I don’t necessarily agree, but I do understand what they want from me, and so I provide them with the visuals they need to tell the story, and not just the visuals that you expect, but I try to delve deeper.”
Art Lien, a retired sketch artist and a friendly competitor of Mr. Hennessy’s at the Supreme Court, said, “Bill had a much better nose for news than I did and probably did twice as many sketches as I did.” He added, “He’d catch everything.”
During Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020, the only cameras allowed in the chamber were video cameras controlled by the Senate. Mr. Hennessy, sketching from the Senate gallery for CNN, drew Chief Justice John Roberts, who presided over the trial, with papers and a video monitor showing evidence on a desk before him; Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, speaking from a lectern; and a gleaming spittoon on the Senate floor.
