‘Substitute camera’ captures Ghislaine Maxwell trial drama

By MALLIKA SEN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Elizabeth Williams was the eyes of the public throughout Ghislaine Maxwell’s monthlong sex-trafficking trial. With the general prohibition of cameras in federal court, the courtroom artist estimates she drew around 100 sketches for distribution by the wire service. Williams has been rendering courtroom scenes in pen and pastel since 1980 and has drawn for The Associated Press since 2004. At one point, Maxwell drew the courtroom artists themselves, but that didn’t faze Williams who says she prefers to keep a wall between herself and the subject. Williams calls herself the “substitute camera,” forgoing any artistic license.