Live-Drawing The Last Day Of The Carroll V Trump Civil Rape Trial

Closing arguments, and now it’s in the jury’s hands

Ms. Carroll on line, waiting to be screened and to give up our electronic devices. I drew this on my iPhone.

Before being allowed into the Manhattan Courthouse where the Carroll v Trump Civil Rape trial is being held, you have to go through extensive security. I arrived yesterday for the final day of closing arguments to find an extremely long line at the security scanners. As we wound our way through the line, I spotted Ms. Carroll, standing in line.

Once in the room where the trial is held, I saw one of the courtroom artists facing backwards, and at first thought nothing of it. Trying to understand what was going on, I then looked to see what she was sketching: Ms. Carroll was seated at the back of the room. Usually, she is seated with her team, but it became clear that the trial had not started just yet: Judge Kaplan was discussing with the lawyers something to do with admitting parts of a Law and Order SVU episode.

I will share some of my sketches and notes, and encourage you to read about the trial from another source. I take these notes for myself to perhaps use in this article, but also to give you a flavor of being there.

The attorney for the plaintiff, Ms. Kaplan (no relation to the judge), went first with her closing argument.

A rather calm appearing person, Ms. Kaplan methodically laid out the case, giving the jury a detailed synopsis of her charge that Donald Trump raped and defamed E. Jean Carroll.