Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort looks better than NFL legend Tom Brady in court — because Manafort clearly has a different sketch artist.
The first images from Manafort’s Virginia bank and tax fraud trial are emerging and, yeah, this is the kindest Manafort has been treated since his glory days at the Northern Neck Jail. People noticed that his courtroom sketch wasn’t as ghastly as Brady’s or other sketches done in the same style.
Courtroom sketch artist William J. Hennessy Jr. has been credited for this rendering of Manafort.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the artist responsible for the memorable Brady, Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein sketches was Jane Rosenberg.
According to Rosenberg’s bio on her website, she spent “many years as a courtroom artist covering famous trials for major television networks” and was “always working with speed to try to capture a moment in time.” Rosenberg’s speciality is plein air painting. Some of the other high-profile sketches she named were of mob boss John Gotti, South Carolina mother who drowned her two sons Susan Smith, Woody Allen, and Martha Stewart.
Manafort might be thanking his lucky stars that Rosenberg was nowhere to be found on Tuesday. All kidding aside, Manafort’s troubles are much deeper than an unflattering photo. In case you missed it, 12 jurors — six men and six women — were already selected today, meaning that Manafort’s Virginia trial moved on to the opening statements much quicker than had been anticipated.
The former Trump campaign chairman faces a separate trial in Washington, D.C., which is scheduled to begin in September.
[Alexandria Detention Center]