LOS ANGELES – Linda Deutsch, a special correspondent for The Associated Press who for nearly 50 years wrote the first draft histories of many of the nation’s most important criminal and civil trials – Charles Manson, OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson, and others – has died Week. . He is 80 years old.
Deutsch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2022 and underwent successful treatment, but the cancer returned this summer. He died at his home in Los Angeles, 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 were female reporters when they joined the AP in the late 1960s.
“He was an incomparable friend to hundreds of people who will miss his wit, wisdom, charm and constant curiosity,” Lederer said.
One of America’s most famous trial reporters when he retired in 2015, Deutsch’s judicial career began with the 1969 trial and conviction of the murderer of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan. He continues to cover who is the criminal defendant – Manson, Simpson, Jackson, Patty Hearst, Phil Spector, Brothers Menendez, “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski and the police officers accused of assaulting motorcycles. Rodney King.
He was in a Los Angeles courtroom in 1995 for the conclusion of “The Trial of the Century” which saw Simpson, an NFL Hall of Famer, acquitted of murdering 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 there was a big trial, the AP assignment editor didn’t have to ask who should get the job. No, the immediate question was, ‘Is Linda available?'” recalled Louis D. Boccardi, who served as AP executive editor for a decade and served as president and CEO for 18 years. “He mastered the art of celebrity trial coverage and, in the process, became a media celebrity himself.”
For decades, Deutsch covered every appeal and parole for every convicted member of the Manson Family. Other historic moments include witnessing the 1976 outrage of Hearst, the newspaper heir accused of bank robbery and other charges; 2005 acquitted Jackson on child molestation charges; and the 2009 murder conviction of Spector, a well-known music producer.
“Linda is a fearless reporter who loves big stories — and she’s covered some of the biggest ones,” said Julie Pace, AP executive editor and senior vice president. “He is a true trailblazer whose winning streak and tireless work ethic make him an inspiration to many journalists at the AP and in our industry.”
His work, always passionately written, was not limited to celebrities – other trials included fraud, conspiracy, environmental disasters and immigration – and eventually earned him the title of special correspondent, the most prestigious line for AP reporters.
Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau, who is representing Jackson, called Deutsch “the epitome of ethics and professionalism in journalism.”
“I can’t think of anyone who rose to his level,” he said of Deutsch in retirement.
Deutsch was only 25 when he covered Sirhan’s confidence. He then moved to the strange case of Charles Manson, a career criminal who has reinvented himself as a hippie teacher, proselytizing and furnishing psychedelic drugs to a group of disaffected youth.
The Manson family, as they are known, attacked Los Angeles on consecutive summer nights in 1969, breaking into homes in two wealthy neighborhoods and killing seven people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate. Most of the victims were stabbed multiple times, and their blood was used to write “pig” and other words on the walls of their houses.
When Manson and three of his young female followers tried to kill him in 1970, they turned the months-long legal process into a “surreal spectacle”, as Deutsch would write when Manson died in 2017.
“People were having LSD flashbacks in the courtroom and at one point Charlie was jumping on the judge’s counsel table with a pencil in his hand and the girls were jumping up and down singing,” Deutsch recalled in a 2014 interview.
With only one important trial under Deutsch’s belt, the AP initially sent a more experienced reporter from New York to lead coverage of the Manson trial. After a month of witnessing such behavior, he returned home in disgust, leaving Deutsche in charge.
“I thought, ‘Oh, this is really something,'” Deutsch recalled with a laugh. “I didn’t know a trial could be like this.”
However, he was hooked, forming a tight bond with the reporter who showed up every day for nine months.
But a larger trial, born of the modern television age, would haunt Manson more than two decades later. When Simpson, one of America’s most beloved sports and celebrities, was accused of stabbing Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in a fit of rage, news outlets from all over the world sent reporters to cover the case.
The judge made Deutsch, now a household name around the courthouse, the only reporter covering jury selection. He became a public figure on television, telling viewers around the world what was happening in the courtroom.
After Simpson was acquitted 11 months later, he called to thank him for what he considered fair and objective coverage. The conversation led to what was the first of several exclusive interviews he has given over the years.
Not all of his trials involved celebrities. Deutsch spent five months in Alaska covering the trial of Joseph Hazelwood, the captain of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker that caused one of the worst US environmental disasters when it spilled 11 million gallons (41 million liters) of crude oil in 1989.
He was also present at the 1973 espionage trial of Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked to The New York Times the secret Pentagon Papers revealing sordid details of US involvement in Vietnam. The Times published a series of articles on content that helped the public fight the Vietnam War.
Deutsch covered the trial of Ramirez, the “Night Stalker” serial killer, listening to harrowing testimony that brought reporters to tears. But it was the 1992 trial of four Los Angeles police officers who videotaped King’s beating that shook Deutsch the most. The release sparked riots in Los Angeles that killed 55 people and caused $1 billion in property damage.
“That almost destroyed confidence in the justice system,” he said in 2014. “I think the jury usually gets it right, but in that case, no. It’s a wrong conclusion. It’s a wrong decision and it almost destroyed my city.
Like many others, Deutsch fell in love with Los Angeles after moving elsewhere. Born and raised in New Jersey, he traced his interest in journalism to the age of 12, when he founded an international Elvis Presley fan club newsletter in his hometown of Perth Amboy. Lifelong Presley fans traveled to the musician’s Graceland home in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2002 to mark the 25th anniversary of his death.
In his second year at Monmouth College in New Jersey – now Monmouth University – he got a part-time job at his hometown newspaper, where he persuaded the editor to allow him to travel to Washington, DC, in 1963 to cover the Rev. Martin. Luther King Jr. historic speech “I Have a Dream”.
Arriving in Southern California after graduation, he worked briefly at the San Bernardino Sun before joining the AP in 1967. Deutsch initially wanted to be an entertainment reporter and, for years, would take time off the court to help cover the Academy Awards.
In 1975, after the fall of Saigon ended US involvement in Vietnam, he was sent to the Pacific island of Guam to interview refugees and help recruit AP employees safely to the United States.
But it’s definitely drama in the courtroom we call home.
“It’s as old as Shakespeare and as old as Socrates,” he said in a 2007 interview. “It’s a very powerful piece of theater that tells us about ourselves and about the people we’re judging. And I think that’s really amazing.
Burial is pending.
