Linda Deutsch was a trailblazing female journalist who, in a nearly five-decade career, covered Sirhan Sirhan’s trial in the murder of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the Manson Family trials and the trials of O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson.
Linda Deutsch, a special correspondent for the Associated Press who for nearly 50 years wrote glittering first drafts of history from many of the nation’s most significant criminal and civil trials — Charles Manson, O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, among others — died Sunday. She was 80.
Deutsch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2022 and underwent successful treatment, but the cancer returned this summer. She died at her Los Angeles home, surrounded by family and friends, said nurse Narek Petrosian of Olympia Hospice Care.
AP chief United Nations correspondent Edith Lederer was among those with Deutsch at the end. They were friends for more than 50 years and trailblazing female reporters when they joined AP in the late 1960s.
“She was an incomparable friend to hundreds of people who will miss her wit, wisdom, charm and constant inquisitiveness,” Lederer said.
One of America’s best-known trial reporters when she retired in 2015, Deutsch’s courts career began with the 1969 trial and conviction of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan. She went on to cover a who’s who of criminal defendants — Manson, Simpson, Jackson, Patty Hearst, Phil Spector, the Menendez Brothers, “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski and the police officers charged in the beating of motorist Rodney King.
She was in a Los Angeles courtroom in 1995 for the conclusion of “The Trial of the Century” that saw Simpson, an NFL Hall of Famer, acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend. Thirteen years later, Deutsch was in a Las Vegas courtroom when Simpson was convicted of kidnapping and robbery and sentenced to prison.
“When a big trial loomed, AP’s assignment editors didn’t have to ask who should get the assignment. No, the instant question was, ‘Is Linda available?’” recalled Louis D. Boccardi, who served as AP’s executive editor for a decade and as president and chief executive for 18 years. “She mastered the art of celebrity trial coverage and, in the process, became something of a media celebrity herself.”
For decades, Deutsch covered every appeal and parole hearing of each convicted Manson Family member. Other historic moments included witnessing the 1976 conviction of Hearst, the newspaper heiress found guilty on bank robbery and other charges; the 2005 acquittal of Jackson on child molestation charges; and the 2009 murder conviction of Spector, the famed music producer.
“Linda was a fearless reporter who loved being on a big story — and she indeed covered some of the biggest,” said Julie Pace, AP’s executive editor and senior vice president.
