Not every story lives in the filings. What someone wears to their arraignment says as much as the plea they enter. A courtroom sketch can become the image a case is remembered by. The PR statement released ten minutes after a verdict is its own kind of evidence. This is where we track the parts of a celebrity case that don't show up on the docket.
Courtroom Sketches
The Art
★ Featured Artist
Emmy-nominated courtroom illustrator with 50+ years at the bench. Covered Charles Manson, O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh, Richard Ramirez, and Rodney King for CBS, NBC News, CNN, the Washington Post, and the LA Times. Library of Congress acquired his original courtroom artwork in 2016. LA Society of Illustrators Lifetime Achievement Award (2003). Follow him on Instagram: @billrobles.art.
★ Featured Artists · U.S. v. Combs
The Diddy Trial Trio
Three veteran SDNY sketch artists sat front row for the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex-trafficking trial, using binoculars to catch the witness stand and turning out up to six finished pieces a day. Combs famously complained one of them was making him look "like a koala."
40+ years. Pastel sketches of Trump, Epstein, Weinstein, Cosby, and Combs. Her Trump arraignment sketch went viral and landed on the cover of The New Yorker.
Veteran New York courtroom illustrator. Covered the Combs trial and Trump's Manhattan hush-money trial for CNN. Four decades of landmark federal and state cases.
Career sketch artist who drew Combs for the Associated Press. Co-author of The Illustrated Courtroom (with Bill Robles). Tracked Combs's reaction when bail was denied.
For more courtroom art from sketch artists across the country, follow @courtroom_art on Instagram.
ARRAIGNMENT · APR 20, 2026
People v. d4vd
David Anthony Burke in a county-issued orange jumpsuit. The sketch that will define the early days of this case.
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COMING SOON
Lively v. Wayfarer Trial
SDNY trial sketches, starting May 18. One of the most anticipated celebrity trials of the year.
Arraignment Fashion
The Look★ Mediation Matchy-Matchy · SDNY · Apr 2026
Lively v. Baldoni — "Twinzies" in Court
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni showed up to their court-ordered mediation on the 14th floor of a lower Manhattan courthouse — seated in separate rooms with their legal teams — and the internet immediately clocked that they appeared to be color-coordinated. Social media observers dubbed the looks "matchy matchy" and called them "twinzies!" Some theories: "Their stylists are telling them what colors look innocent" · "They asked an AI for fashion advice perhaps." The mediation ended without a settlement. Trial proceeds May 18. Full docket →
Getty Images · Click for caption & photographer
More looks stacked as the trial proceeds.
PR Playbook
The Spin📣
DEFENSE STATEMENT · APR 2026
d4vd Defense Team Statement
Days before charges were filed, the defense trio of Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter issued one of the most quoted PR statements of the year: "Let us be clear — the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death." A classic "we will vigorously defend innocence" setup before formal charges land.
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DEFENSE STATEMENT · 2025
Bryan Freedman for Baldoni / Wayfarer
Freedman's statements in the Lively case are a masterclass in aggressive defense PR. He framed Lively's complaint as a "desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation" and teased the release of Baldoni's own receipts before filing his $400M countersuit. The strategy blurred the line between litigation and media warfare — and it worked enough to get most individual defendants dismissed.
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PLAINTIFF STATEMENT · 2024-2026
Mike Gottlieb for Blake Lively
Gottlieb's Lively statements have been notably restrained. After the court dismissed 10 of 13 claims but kept the key retaliation claims alive against Wayfarer Studios, Gottlieb reframed the ruling as proof the "core of Blake's case moves forward." Contrast with Freedman's scorched-earth approach: Gottlieb plays the long game for the May 18 trial.