(Page 2 of 4)

A Hollywood Angel's Dark Side

A Farrah Fawcett in court in 1998 (when her boyfriend James Orr was accused of domestic abuse) is obviously not the one you'll see on TV.

Fawcett had claimed she was beaten. But Orr's lawyers contended that he'd acted in self-defense, and that she had smashed windows of the defendant's home with a fireplace poker and attacked his car with a baseball bat.

"Watching the case was like watching performance art," Edwards says.

"Farrah demonstrated how she walked with the bat pointed down at her side; Orr showed how she swung it as she walked," she recalls in the book. "A lawyer remarked that the whole thing looked like a bad dance."

And Edwards was left to depict this odd demonstration, before Orr was convicted and sentenced to probation.

The intensity of Simpson's testimony at his wrongful death trial was another moment that was nearly too overwhelming to draw, she says. "When O.J. Simpson demonstrates 'wrassling' with Nicole with clenched fists … these are times when the pen's practically quivering in my hand," she says.

Haunting Stares from the Night Stalker

On "The Sopranos" last season, Junior Soprano (Dominic Chianese) shoots menacing glances at the courtroom artist, as if to say he's not so happy that he's being depicted at his racketeering trial as a doddering old fool.

Edwards says she felt similarly terrorized while covering the 1989 murder trial of Richard Ramirez, the so-called night stalker who would be convicted on charges related to a grisly crime spree that left 14 people dead.

"It was the most unsettling experience of my life. I sat directly behind the defense and occasionally Ramirez turned to look at me and watch me draw. He smiled with his crooked teeth," she recalls in the book.

"If he saw I was sketching, he watched me, so I began covering my face. I didn't want to attract attention, and I certainly didn't want him burning my face into his memory."

When Former Defendants Want Trial Souvenirs

While most former defendants want no reminder of their criminal trials, Fleiss and Love have become fans of Edwards' work.

Edwards is employed as a freelancer for various media companies, and regularly works for ABC News, but she retains ownership of her courtroom sketches and sells them selectively.

"I wouldn't do it in a way that would be disrespectful," she says.