Jury Selection for the Noor Salman Trial

Posted on by Thor

 Any media inquiries to purchase courtroom sketches should call or
text (407) four five zero-0807. I am out of touch while in the
courthouse. I will get back in touch ASAP.

Jury selection began on Thursday, March 8th for the Noor Salman trial with 42 prospective jurors in the pool to start, the goal was to reach 56 jurors before starting the process of cutting that number down to 12 jurors with 6 alternates. The media overflow courtroom 3A is similar to courtroom 4B. It is just inverted with the jury box being on the opposite side of the room. It is not possible to sketch jurors, so I just sketched the reporters who sat in the jury box and at the lawyers’ tables.

Juror 212 is an advocate for LGBT Rights and she felt she could not be impartial because of that. She was excused for cause. Juror 274 has a husband who is a contractor in Kuwait and Iraq. Because of things he told her, she feels that Middle Eastern women do not have equal rights. They have to wear birquas and not make eye contact. The judge assured her that Noor is a United States citizen born in America and asked if she could be impartial in this case. She said she could keep an open mind.

Juror 270 had a medical issue. She is recovering from Cancer which is now in remission. Though in recovery, she was excused for cause. Juror 277 was a student looking to go to law school. Judge Paul G. Byron congratulated him and wished him well with his choice of college. He answered all the questions with enthusiasm and remained in the pool. Juror 275 had a father who works for the Winter Park Police. He had read many news accounts about the Pulse Nightclub Massacre and felt he could not remain impartial. He was excused for cause. Juror 282 was recently divorced and concerned about having time for custody of his 14 year old daughter. He had read a lot about the shooting on multiple online news sites. He was excused for cause. Juror 278 was a caregiver for her mother. She said that Noor must have known something about what her husband was about to do when he left to kill 49 people. She was excused for cause. With so many people with dead set opinions and biases, it is amazing that any local residents get past the questioning and into the jury pool.

On the walls of the courtrooms were oil paintings of past judges. One was of Patricia Combi Fawsett by local painter Don Sontag, the other portrait was of G. Kendall Sharp. Historic decisions are made inside these walls and the traditional oil portraits are a reminder of the long traditions that are upheld. Reporters come and go, usually filing out mid-afternoon to get their report on the air. I have settled into the daily routine at court and know that I am meant to be here to document this moment in Orlando history. On Wednesday, March 14th the trial officially begins with a full jury.

Lisa Moreno Cross-examines a Prospective Juror

Posted on by Thor

Any media inquiries to purchase courtroom sketches should call or
text (407) four five zero-0807. I am out of touch while in the
courthouse. I will get back in touch ASAP.

Jury selection continues for the Noor Salman trial. Noor is the widow of the Pulse Nightclub massacre gunman. She is accused of aiding and abetting her husband and misleading FBI agents in the days after the shooting. Judge Paul G. Byron conducts most of the questioning of prospective jurors but sometimes the lawyers have questions of their own after the judge has finished.

Juror 269 was on a murder case 20 years ago so she was familiar with the process of being selected for a jury. She has just started a new job and would not be paid for jury duty so she was excused for cause. Juror 262 has a son who worked as a DJ at a club near Pulse. She was extremely concerned about his welfare on the evening of the attack. Juror 266 worked at the hospital near Pulse on the evening of the carnage. She was called in to the trauma unit at 6 AM that morning when all the chaos was in full swing. She treated survivors as they fought for their lives in the months to come. She was excused for cause.

Juror 256 was a psychologist who has been called as an expert witness in other court cases. There would be a psychologist called as a witness in the Salman case and although the prospective juror said he could fairly judge and weigh his opinion when the testimony is given, he was excused for cause. The last juror for the morning, 267 said that he has attention deficit disorder. He works in the tech industry which requires concentration, but if things get slow at work he will get lost in his phone. As he said, “We all are guilty of a bit of Candy Crush.” The judge laughed and when the prospective juror left he was excused for cause. Reporters in the overflow news room who had never played the game, asked for some explanation.

Judge Paul G. Byron Runs Jury Selection

Posted on by Thor

Any media inquiries to purchase courtroom sketches should call or
text (407) four five zero-0807. I am out of touch while in the
courthouse. I will get back in touch ASAP.

Jury selection continues in the Noor Salman trial. Noor is accused of aiding and abetting her husband who killed 49 people and injured many more. In the media overflow courtroom we spend a lot of time staring at Judge Paul G. Byron in the video monitors. It is a strange situation that cameras are forbidden in the courtroom, but three cameras are set up to broadcast 3 views of the proceedings to the media in overflow courtroom 3A. No electronics or cameras are allowed in that room, so the only way to record visually what is happening in the main courtroom is to sketch from the video projections. The same questions are asked of each juror to see if they should be excused for cause if they aren’t appropriate for the jury. I noticed the Pulse Nightclub owner take a seat in the back row of the courtroom to watch the proceedings.

Prospective juror 174 had a daughter who was attacked by her father in 2001. Social workers in that case tried to take her children away but she wouldn’t have it. She doesn’t tend to argue but balances all the information rather than rushing to judgment. She remained in the juror pool after questioning.

Prospective juror 176 felt that police sometimes overstep their power. He felt that the Pulse Nightclub massacre was in retaliation for 9-11. He has a friend who served in Afghanistan and was injured by a bomb. Although he claimed bias at every turn, he was kept in the juror pool. I was surprised at how seldom attorneys stepped in to question prospective jurors. The judge asked all the questions.

Prospective juror 156 felt that too many Muslims immigrate to the United States. Some jurors were clearly making statement to get out of jury duty. It is shocking to watch people do anything to avoid their civic responsibility.

Lisa Moreno and Noor Salman.

Posted on by Thor

Any media inquiries to purchase courtroom sketches should call or text (407) four five zero-0807. I am out of touch while in the courthouse. I will get back in touch ASAP.

I did this sketch first thing in the morning as another day of jury selection got under way. I wanted to sketch Noor Salman, the widow of the Pulse Nightclub shooter, before the monotony of the process set in for another day. I heard from a reporter that Noor gave Lisa a fist bump at one point. I didn’t witness this gesture, but the next day the monitor showing Noor had been redirected to point at the empty witness stand. I have to assume that her defense attorney didn’t want the media watching Noor’s every move. The fact that I can no longer sketch Noor makes it all the more important that I get in the courtroom before the trial is in full swing so that I can at least draw her as she leans over and talks to her lawyers.

Lisa Moreno is soft spoken and unaware that there are microphones she could be using. The microphones are usually pointing away from her. I admire her based on her accomplishments, however, I remember reading that she was an attorney with successful experiences in two high profile war-on-terror related cases, those of Professor Sami Al-Arian and Ghassan Elashi, who was a Guantanamo Bay defense lawyer with security clearance. Professor Sami Al-Arain was under house arrest limbo for five years. All the charges were dropped.

Lisa has been the only defense lawyer so far to sit in on the jury selection process. On multiple occasions she has questioned potential jurors and had then released with cause since their knowledge of the case or bias against Muslims might lead them to not be able to rule fairly in the 3 week case. The trial itself might start as early as Wednesday of next week.

I found out today that I cannot get into the main courtroom. The local media, without even trying to negotiate, gave the seat that I was originally promised to a birthday party caricature artist that low-balled the quote on the assignment. The primary concern for the local media seems to be cost rather than quality. Cartoons unfortunately feel quite inappropriate for a case of this magnitude. I feel a civic responsibility to cover this trial with the respect it deserves. I will continue to cover the trial but my sketches will be more about the media circus that will be unfolding in the downstairs courtroom 3A rather in the main courtroom 4B. I am disappointed but will make the best of the media drama and obscurity that continues to unfold.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for March 10th and 11th.

Posted on by Thor

Saturday March 10, 2018

6 AM to 11 AM Free. Parramore Farmer’s Market. East side of Orlando City Stadium opposite City View.  View, purchase quality, fresh and healthy food grown in your own neighborhood by local farmers, including Fleet Farming, Growing Orlando, and other community growers.

4 PM to 6 PM Free. Young Voices. J.P. Callaman Center 102 Parramore Drive Orlando FL.

8 PM to 10 PM $5 Second Saturdays in Sanford. 202 South Sanford Avenue Sanford FL. Live music event featuring two stages, drink specials and more.

Sunday March 11, 2018

10 AM to Noon Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Road Orlando FL 32811. The method of heartfulness, a simple and practical way to experience the hearts unlimited resources.

Noon to 1 PM Free. Yoga. Lake Eola Park near the red gazibo.

1P PM to 5:30 PM Free. Family Day. The Mennello Museum ofAmerican Art 800 East Princeton Street Orlando Fl 32803.

The prosecutors during the Noor Salman trial.

Posted on by Thor

Any media inquiries to purchase courtroom sketches should call or
text (407) four five zero-0807. I am out of touch while in the
courthouse. I will get back in touch ASAP.

Jury selection continues for the Noor Salman trial in the Federal Court in downtown Orlando. Periodically, the prosecutors would have to introduce themselves to prospective jurors. Standing, they would announce the names of  Roger Hamberg and Sarah Sweeney, the state’s prosecuting attorneys, and Darryl McCaskill of the FBI. During a lunch break I saw the prosecutors getting food downtown where I was eating, but I decided to keep to myself.

To recap, Noor Salman is the 31 year old widow of the Pulse Nightclub shooter. She is charged with aiding and abetting her husband as he planned the attack. From my seat in the jury box of courtroom 3A, I would watch the attorneys through the long jury selection process. Roger always has a stern expression while the FBI agent always seemed concerned. The prosecutors are tasked with proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Noor is guilty as charged.

Juror 44 had discussed the case with a friend who had served in Iraq. His friend had been injured by an explosive device while in service. He said that soldiers always had to watch the wives of the men in Iraq since they would to anything that their husbands told them. That made the women always a potential threat and they were treated as such. He said that this conversation would influence his decision in the case and he was excused for cause.

Juror 112 worked three jobs and said that a three week trial would be an undue hardship. She too was excused. Juror 113 worked in the court system and that familiarity was another excuse for cause. Juror 91 had a friend who works in a gun range and he remained in the pool of 60 jurors who would later be whittled down to the final 12 plus 6 alternates.

I still hope to find my way into the main courtroom. I was told that if I went in, I would be removed from the courthouse and my press privileges revoked. However Judge Paul G. Byron remarked in his rules for the media that there would be sketch artists (plural) allowed in the courtroom. I need to address the court media people and make final arrangements before things get crazy once the jury selection is over and the witnesses are called in to testify.

Proof by David Auburn at Theater on the Edge.

Posted on by Thor

On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine, (Megan Raitano) a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, Robert, (Allan Whitehead) a famous mathematician. She enters the stage crying and beside herself with grief. She consoles herself with some bubbly and then her father enters the stage to wish her a happy birthday and to talk about the good times they had. For some ominous reason he always spoke it int past tense until it becomes clear that he isn’t really there.

Following he father’s death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire (Elaitheia Quinn); and the attentions of Hal (Barry Wright), a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that her father left behind.

Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all, namely, how much of her father’s madness, or genius, will she inherit? In one scene her father sits outside at the table in the freezing cold excitedly writing away in one of his notebooks. As he put it all cylinders were firing and the math problems were finding creative and inspired solutions. Catherine was excited for him and when she reads the paper, we watched her expression slowly change as she realized that the inspirations were nonsense having little to do with actual math.

Proof is a 2000 play by the American playwright David Auburn. Proof was developed at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. Theater on the Edge always brings the latest cutting edge plays to Orlando allowing the small audience a front row set into contemporaneity dreams and aspirations often with a touch of madness.

This incredible play rips out your heart and stomps on it for good measure. It runs through March 31st. Get your tickets at theaterontheedge.org at Theater on the Edge 5542 Hansel Avenue Orlando FL 32809.

Chosen: finding yourself in the dark.

Posted on by Thor

I went to a dress rehearsal of Chosen being presented by Marshall Ellis of ME Dance Inc. This production is incredibly urban, hip and edgy. This is an original new show created by Marshall. His fusion of
contemporary, ballet, hip hop and jazz dance will give audiences a new
fresh perspective to live performance art.

The entire back wall of the stage was used as a movie screen to open the show. A camera zoomed back through skyscrapers before settling in on a lone man in a hoodie walking in a parking lot. The rap music lyrics were about a life in which everything seems to go wrong.

A light spray of stage smoke caused the lights to showcase their cones of influence. The entire show was set largely in darkness. The dancers would become slivers of warm and cool highlights with their bodies blending into the darkness. The cast was mostly women with just two male dancers dressed in hoodies. I wondered if this was in some way a tribute to Trayvon Martin who was shot up in Sanford for walking through a white neighborhood with a hoodie on.

There was sensual dance along with spiritual yearning and the dancers stoically faced the future. The music echoed regrets of a relationship that didn’t last and the singers rise in a music industry which is blood thirsty. Sketching so much, I probably missed some of the more subtle story elements in the show. In general the theme involved the cast aspiring for greatness and always finding an endless struggle in the pursuit.

Performances of Chosen are on March 9th – 11th, 2018 at ME Theatre (1300 La Quinta Drive Orlando FL 3209.) Tickets are $20.

Judge Paul G. Byron presides over the Noor Slaman Jury seletion.

Posted on by Thor

Any media inquiries to purchase courtroom sketches should call or text (407) four five zero-0807. I am out of touch while in the courthouse. I will get back in touch ASAP.

On day two of the Noor Salman Trial, Judge Paul G. Byron asked a each  juror a series of questions to see if they could be an impartial juror on the case. He explained that the trail might take 3 weeks starting as early as March 12th after jury selection s complete. The case should have a verdict by the first week of April. He also let each juror know that they would have Fridays and weekends off to catch up on any personal choirs and responsibilities.

One prospective juror was a doctor who handles victims injuries after the attack that killed 49 people and injured over 60 others. Even though he was. Intimately involved with the Pulse tragedy he was considered fit to remain impartial. One prospective jurors didn’t approve of the Muslim faith. After further questioning he refined his statement saying he didn’t like radicalized Muslims. Lisa Moreno, Noor’s attorney tried to have the juror removed from the pool, but judge Byron overruled here.

Although the 600 or so prospective jurors who filled out the questionnaire were told not to discuss the case with anyone before coming in for jury duty, One juror admitted that he had discussed the case with co-workers. That discussion lead him to be biased towards guild. Someone had to be found guilty for the horrific act of June 12, 2016 at the Pulse Nightclub. A young man described being pulled over by police when he was a youth. He believed those police to be corrupt. Another prospective juror has a friend who died in the club that night. I was amazed that he was moved forward into the pool of potential jurors.

Day 2 of the Noor Salman trial.

Posted on by Thor

Courtroom sketches are available to purchase for use by the media. No phones allowed in court. Text or call (407) four five zero – 0807. I will get in touch ASAP after court lets out. 

I woke up bright and early at 6 AM for day 2 of the Noor Slaman Trial. Walking towards the courthouse at 7 AM the rainbow band shell was illuminated a warm orange from the rising sun. I met a reporter from CNN at the front entrance since the courthouse wasn’t open yet. The reporter joked that folks in the courthouse thought he was best friends with Wolf Blitzer. He talked about the media circus for the O.J. Simpson trail and the Boston bombing trial. He seems to feel that this trial will not generate as much interest from national media. Since Noor is the wife of the Pulse Nightclub attacker who was shot and killed, that makes her a secondary character in their eyes. However, being from Orlando myself, this trial is very important.

On day 2 I had my press badge ready and figured I would sketch in courtroom 4B where Judge Paul G. Byron was presiding over jury selection. There are 12 seats reserved for media in that courtroom and one of those seats is reserved for a courtroom artist. I was slated to take that seat but at the last minute, I was replaced by a caricature artist who low balled the price on his sketches. I learned from the CNN guy that on day one the courtroom was fairly empty. There was plenty of seating besides the 12 press seats. I could probably just sit in as a member of the public. If the place got full, I would gladly step out to the press room.

There was a tech issue at the front entry, so getting into the courthouse would take some time. Since I was the second in line, I wasn’t too concerned. Taking off all metal was becoming routine. Right beyond the entry  there was a line of ladies at a table that seemed to be in charge of handing out temporary passes. I asked if I needed to stop there, and I was fine with the pass I already had. I decided however to ask about sketching in the main courtroom. I was told that there was only 1 seat reserved for an artist. I asked if I could just enter as a member of the public. She told me that if I entered the room with art supplies, I would have my press badge revoked and would be evicted from the court house. I don’t get this Machiavellian idea that only one artist can observe a trail. Her in Orlando, there can only be one cowboy at the rodeo. I have seen court cases where close to a dozen Courtroom Sketch Artists sat in a row sketching trials in the past. Oh well. I seem to be the only citizen in Orlando who is not permitted to observe the case from  inside the courtroom because I carry a pencil and paper. I feel a civic responsibility to document this moment in Orlando’s History.

I would have to observe the trail from the media overflow room for a second day. There was a solid hour and a half before the doors opened. I decided I would sketch the entrance to the court house since it would illustrate this article well as a secondary sketch. I was finished with the pencil composition and starting to ink in the sketch when a security guard stopped me. I was told I shouldn’t sketch outside any of the courtrooms. I apologized and put it away. At the security for the press overflow room I was asked to rip the sketch out of my book. I jokingly signed it for him. He had to run it up the chain of command. Later a US Marshall approached me and said the sketch would have to be confiscated. The problem was that I showed the security at the entrance. If someone wanted to, they could use that sketch to possibly find a weakness in the buildings security. I hadn’t though of that as I was happily sketching away. I hope they frame the sketch and keep it. It might be worth something someday. I took all this in good humor. The guard joked with me, “Haven’t you ever heard of ‘don’t treat it like a Federal Case?’ This is where that phrase come from.” I laughed.

I was the first person in the press room. The projection screen showed 3 views of the courtroom. One view was new. It was of the defense table. I was excited. When Noor Salman entered she would sit in the center seat. I immediately started sketching the rough layout of the furniture in pencil so I would be ready when she entered. She entered wearing a black jump suit and she smiled as she talked with her attorney Lisa Moreno. I  mentioned her outfit since it was the first thing that the reporters talked about when they entered the room I was excitedly sketching in. I sketched Noor quickly as she talked animatedly to Lisa. Sketching allows me to crawl inside her head. For the first time she came alive for me. From my comfy jury box seat, I could watch Noor’s every expression. Come Monday, I will continue to focus my attention strictly on her. She tends to spend a lot of time with her head down seeming to draw or take notes.