GHISLAINE MAXWELL TRIAL: Courtroom sketch artist's clear view
NEW YORK - Courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg has covered high-profile trials of the famous and infamous for more than 40 years including R. Kelly, Bill Cosby, Martha Stewart, and mob boss John Gotti. Ghislaine Maxwell is the latest.
"Ghislaine was really fun for me to draw because she always turned around and there was a connection between us," Rosenberg said.
Which made for some interesting courtroom sketches by Rosenberg.
"She would wave to me. She spoke to me a little. She sketched me right in the beginning," Rosenberg said. "She started sketching."
A sketch of Maxwell sketching Rosenberg while Rosenberg was sketching Maxwell heated up Twitter.
"I came out of court and I had a whole bunch of emails. Somebody called me and wanted to interview me and I said, 'What? Why?' And they said, 'Don't you know your sketch went viral?'"
RELATED: Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teens
And that put Rosenberg in the international spotlight. Media outlets were fascinated that the British socialite, who was on trial for sex trafficking, was sketching the artist.
"Maybe it's a family thing that they like to sketch," Rosenberg said, "or maybe Ghislaine was just bored or isolated in the jail cell and happy to look at somebody."
That one occasion when Maxwell spoke to Rosenberg did not catch her by surprise.
"I was the first one in the courtroom and she said, 'Long day, isn't it,'" Rosenberg said.
Maxwell made Rosenberg's job much easier than usual.
"A lot of times I'm sitting right behind the defendant, all I see is the back of their head. Maybe they'll turn around for a little second and talk to their lawyer and I get a little bit of profile," Rosenberg said. "But this was really great for me. She would be right front view."
A jury on Wednesday found Maxwell guilty of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse. She now faces the possibility of life in prison.