Linda Deutsch, trailblazing AP writer who covered O.J. Simpson and Manson trials, dies at 80

By Erin Stone

Published Sep 2, 2024 9:42 AM

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Linda Deutsch, a longtime Associated Press writer who covered the trials of Charles Manson, O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson, among others, has died at 80, according to the AP.

In 2022, Deutsch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She went into remission after successful treatment, but this past summer the cancer returned, according to the AP. She died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles with family and friends by her side.

Her career

Deutsch was one of the best-known trial reporters and covered some of the most high-profile cases in the U.S. for nearly 50 years. She was part of a group of trailblazing female reporters who joined the Associated Press in the late 1960s.

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Her career covering courts began with the 1969 conviction of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, according to the AP. She gained notoriety soon after during the Charles Manson trial, which started in 1970.

“Here we had people in the courtroom having LSD flashbacks, Charlie Manson jumping at the judge across the council table, the defendants getting up and singing, and the women of Manson's clan, camped out on the sidewalk threatening to immolate themselves if he was convicted,” Deutsch told LAist’s AirTalk in 2014. “And I thought, oh, that's what happens at trials?”

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She went on to cover many major cases, including celebrity trials such as those of O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson, as well as other infamous cases such as the trials for “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, the Menendez brothers and the police officers charged with assaulting Rodney King.

Deutsch’s retirement

Byt the time Deutsch retired in 2015, she'd earned a reputation for her in-depth narrative writing that had both fairness and flair.

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“If they wanted to get something out, they knew that I was a conduit to write the story as long as it was legitimate and I think I broke a lot of stories that way,” Deutsch told AirTalk in 2014.

She said O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson both called her after their trials.

“They wanted to thank me for being fair to them,” she told AirTalk.

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But her coverage wasn’t limited to celebrities and infamous killers.

Deutsch covered the trial of the captain of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker. The spill became one of the worst environmental disasters in history when 11 million gallons of crude oil were released off the Alaska coast in 1989. She also covered the 1973 trial of Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War, and the trial of civil rights activist Angela Davis.

No matter who she was writing about, she told AirTalk she prioritized her journalistic responsibility to be fair.

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“You have to look at them from the human side and be compassionate and also know that some people really deserve punishment and they are bad people,” Deutsch said, reflecting on her career. “But there's always two sides to every story.”