Carlsbad Magazine sends out a special thanks to Amber Bliss for her contribution to this story.

It’s been 13 years since Bill Lignante retired, but he still remembers every detail about the internationally publicized and historic trials he covered during the 26 years he spent as a courtroom artist for ABC TV Network News.

“I drew pictures people didn’t pose for,” said Lignante, explaining that during his career with ABC, cameras were banned from the courtrooms after all the chaos created from the extensive media coverage surrounding the 1935 trial of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s baby.

That ban led to the idea of letting artists sketch courtroom scenes, which would be the only visual link for television news stations to use on their broadcast coverage of key trials.

While sitting in his reserved front row seats from 1968 through 1994, Lignante stared, studied and listened to people facing serious allegations at every major trial: Sirhan Sirhan for the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy; Charles Manson for the murders of Sharon Tate and six others; Patty Hearst, for bank robbery; Angela Davis for the shooting of a judge with a gun that was registered in her name (she was acquitted of all charges); Lynne “Squeaky” Fromme for the attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford; Lt. William Calley, the My Lai Massacre; Roman Polanski, rape; Daniel Elsberg, the Pentagon Papers; and John De Lorean, drug trafficking. These were just a sampling of Lignante’s entire resume.

Lignante was also in the courtroom for the first ever palimony case, Marvin vs. Marvin, and he heard the testimony of Carol Burnett during a National Enquirer libel case. He also sat in on the testimony of the four police officers charged with the beating of motorist Rodney King.

During the trials each day, Lignante would use his eyes to take a click of a scene, lock it into his memory, and then pull out his pens, ink, brushes, felt tips, magic markers and pastels, and begin sketching so that every person was recognizable and in perfect proportion.

Each day was different depending on what was going on in court and how much time he had to work with producers, writers and editors. Some days he did one illustration, other days four. Sometimes he had two hours to complete his artwork, other times a scant 30 minutes.

“I always had to be aware of the three-hour difference between the west coast, where most of the trials I covered were held, and the east coast, where the television programs originated,” Lignante said, adding that unlike today with all the technical wonders it took much longer to get his work photographed and sent to New York.

His illustrations appeared around the world on ABC News in the evening, and sometimes in newspapers across the nation.

© King Features Syndicate

Lignante began his career with ABC in 1968, the year he was wooed by all three major television networks, even though he had never been in a courtroom.

“I chose ABC, and since there was one artist for each of the three networks, we were pioneers and were considered a select group,” he said proudly.

Armed with his steno pads and sharp eyes, photographic memory and quick hands, he jumped right in, moving from New York to Los Angeles to cover the Sirhan Sirhan trial. For six months, the nation, grieving over the assassination of Sen. Kennedy, were able to see dramatic courtroom highlights vividly depicted by Lignante.

© King Features Syndicate

His next assignment was in Georgia, for the court martial of Lt. William Calley, but halfway through the case, he was called back to Los Angeles for the Charles Manson trial.

The Manson Trial
“This was the longest – nine months – and the most bizarre trial I ever covered,” Lignante said. “I was a witness to evil … and a lot of action. Manson and his three girls, his followers, were mobile – always jumping up and down and throwing things. Manson even made several attempts to kill the judge,” he remembered.

One of Lignante’s most elaborate courtroom illustrations shows Manson, the cult leader who was eventually convicted of murdering actress Sharon Tate, jumping over the counsel table as he tried to get to the judge.

Another one of his memorable sketches shows Manson follower, “Squeaky” Fromme, throwing an apple she had sneaked into court at the head of the prosecutor when she was convicted of the attempted assassination of President Ford.

2000 Illustrations
During Lignante’s tenure with ABC, he drew 2,000 14-inch by 17-inch illustrations from the 41 trials he covered, and he created dozens of artist’s conceptions of 13 unfilmed news events. These included the PSA plane crash in San Diego, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, and the 1981 Kansas City Hyatt tea dance disaster.

When asked to name a few of his favorite illustrations, Lignante responded: “They’re all my children. They’re all my favorites. I would never sell one.”

The Cartoonist Days
Lignante attributes much of his success as a courtroom artist to his earlier career as a cartoonist.

“As far back as I can remember I was always interested in drawing, particularly cartoons. As a youngster, I loved sitting at the kitchen table and copying the Sunday comics, especially Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant,” said Lignante, who grew up in Brooklyn, N. Y.

After high school and a three-year-stint in the Navy, he enrolled at the Pratt Institute in New York, one of the leading art schools in the world.

“I began studying architecture, but soon realized that I couldn’t draw with rulers, so I switched to illustrations, advertising and art history.”

After graduation, he answered an ad in the newspaper and his career as a cartoonist took off, starting with Ozark Ike and continuing on with The Phantom comic strip and comic books, and the cartoon, Let’s Explore Your Mind.

He also worked for 16 years at Hanna-Barbera, one of the leading animation studios. He added his special touches to Johnny Quest, Scooby-Doo and Space Ghost. For 30 years, armed with dozens of slides, he gave hundreds of lectures titled, “Trials of a Courtroom Artist,” on both land and on sea.

Choosing Carlsbad
Lignante, who moved to Carlsbad in 1991, lives in La Costa with his wife, Alma, a former fashion model, actress and Miss America of National Defense whose face has been on the cover of many national magazines, such as Redbook.

One of the largest rooms in their home is Lignante’s studio, a mini-museum where the walls are covered from floor to ceiling with framed copies of his cartoons (he doesn’t own any of the originals), as well as hundreds of framed copies of his courtroom illustrations. (His 2,000 originals, which are valued at $1 million and are in a bank vault, have been willed to the Rotary International Foundation.)

“When the foundation does sell the drawings, the money will go into a trust, with the income to be used for Rotary’s health and humanitarian programs,” said Lignante, a firm believer in giving back to the world and to his community.

He has served on Carlsbad’s Arts Commission and on the city’s library foundation, and he’s done charity work for the San Diego Blood Bank and for the Semper Fi and World Trade Center Relief funds. Presently, he is a library trustee and a member of the Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club.

When he’s not busy trying to help make Carlsbad the best city in the world, Lignante can be found at his drawing table, creating special greeting cards for his friends and neighbors. “I really enjoy using my talent to make people happy,” he said. •