William J. Hennessy Jr., a prominent courtroom artist whose sketches documented important chapters in history, including the impeachment trials of Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and the Supreme Court case that decided the 2000 presidential election, as well as thousands of scenes of quotidian courtroom drama, died in Key West, Florida, on Dec. 9, his 67th birthday.

His son William J. Hennessy III said that his father died in a hospital after having a heart attack in a hotel room while on vacation with his wife, Arezou.

Using colored pencils, pastels, charcoal and watercolors, Hennessy produced some 10,000 pictures from federal, state and local courtrooms, and from the chamber of the U.S. Senate. His analog artistry, usually commissioned by news organizations, filled a void in courts where cameras were not allowed or were restricted.

“Ideally my clients would have a camera in there, in their mind,” Hennessy said in an interview with “PBS NewsHour” in 2009. “I don’t necessarily agree, but I do understand what they want from me, and so I provide them with the visuals they need to tell the story, and not just the visuals that you expect, but I try to delve deeper.”

Art Lien, a retired sketch artist and a friendly competitor of Hennessy’s at the Supreme Court, said, “Bill had a much better nose for news than I did and probably did twice as many sketches as I did.” He added, “He’d catch everything.”

During Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020, the only cameras allowed in the chamber were video cameras controlled by the Senate. Hennessy, sketching from the Senate gallery for CNN, drew Chief Justice John Roberts, who presided over the trial, with papers and a video monitor showing evidence on a desk before him; Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, speaking from a lectern; and a gleaming spittoon on the Senate floor.

When he attended the Clinton impeachment trial from the same elevated perch in 1998, Hennessy depicted the negotiations between senators and Clinton’s attorneys discussing strategy.

Hennessy sketched frequently at Supreme Court hearings, where still and video cameras are prohibited.

Stephen Breyer, a retired associate justice, said in a statement that Hennessy “produced marvelous works of art for the court and the public.”

In the spring, he covered the Supreme Court case Trump v. United States, in which the court granted presidents “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for official acts central to the office. This month, he drew scenes from the challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-transition treatments for minors during which Chase Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the court, spoke to the justices.

“Drawing in the Supreme Court is very different from a regular courtroom,” Hennessy told “PBS NewsHour. “It’s a very awe-inspiring event, even after 27 years of doing it.

“To some degree, it’s predictable,” he said, but added that he had to prepare “for what’s unexpected.”

During the 2000 Bush v. Gore case — in which the justices halted the counting of disputed votes in Florida, handing Bush the presidency over Vice President Al Gore — Hennessy drew the predictable, like Theodore B. Olson, a lawyer for Bush, addressing the justices.

But when Hennessy ventured to the court’s press room, he found a more unusual scene to sketch: reporters crowded together as they awaited the decision, which he described on his website as a “swirl of emotional energy.”

William Joseph Hennessy Jr. was born Dec. 9, 1957, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. His father was a career Navy supply officer, and his mother, Grace (Mahr) Hennessy, ran the home. Bill started sketching and painting as early as 6 years old and aspired to be a painter.

After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1979 with a bachelor of fine arts degree, Hennessy worked as an illustrator for Time Life Books. In 1983, he got his unexpected entree to courtrooms during an art class at American University. Someone asked if any of the students wanted to sketch a court case for a local TV station in Washington.

“Everyone just sat there in silence, so I got up there and went,” he told The Washington Post in 2001.

To support his growing family, he held two jobs: sketching courtrooms by day, as a freelancer, and working as a graphic artist for ABC News on the night shift, a job he held from 1983 to 1997. His work included sketching high-profile cases like the Iran-contra trials of Lt. Col. Oliver North and Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter and the espionage trials of CIA officer Aldrich Ames and FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who both pleaded guilty to spying for Moscow.

His sketches of Zacarias Moussaoui, a 9/11 terrorist who was tried in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2005, included one of him sitting beside a television image of the World Trade Center towers aflame after two airplanes crashed into them.

Hennessy, who lived in Ashburn, Virginia, drew for various publications, including The Washington Post and Time magazine; the ABC, CBS and Fox TV networks; Reuters and The Associated Press wire services; the website Scotusblog, which is devoted to Supreme Court coverage; and TV stations in the Washington area.

In 1994, he received a master of fine arts degree in painting from American University. In 2009, he published “All Rise: Courts, Crime and Courtroom Art,” a compilation of hundreds of his sketches.

In addition to his son William III, Hennessy is survived by his wife, Arezou (Katoozian) Hennessy; three other sons, John, Kevin, and Chris; three daughters, Sasha Hennessy Reggio, Natasha Hennessy and Alishia Hennessy; 13 grandchildren; and seven brothers and sisters.

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On Oct. 19, 2000, Hennessy was in a county courtroom in Alexandria at the trial of Gregory Murphy, who was accused of fatally stabbing an 8-year-old boy. As the hearing ended, Murphy rose and pummeled his lawyer into unconsciousness.

“Bill never flinched,” said Jim Clark, a lawyer who witnessed the punch. “The judge was running off the bench and the lawyers were scrambling. It was utter chaos. His head was down — he had an acute understanding that he had to capture the moment.”

Hennessy sketched Murphy, in a green jump suit, landing a left-handed punch to the jaw, sending the lawyer’s glasses flying.