Linda Deutsch Dies: Longtime AP Courts Reporter Who Covered Manson, Simpson, Spector & More Was 80

Linda Deutsch, the Los Angeles-based special correspondent for The Associated Press whose 50-year career with the news service included covering many of the most attention-getting trials in Hollywood history, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at her Los Angeles home surrounded by family and friends. She was 80.

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Her death was announced by the AP. Deutsch had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2022. Although she underwent successful treatment at the time, the cancer returned this summer, according to the AP.

In her long career covering courts for the AP, Deutsch penned articles about such major criminal and civil cases as the murder trials of Charles Manson, O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector and the Menendez Brothers. She covered trials involving Michael Jackson, Patty Hearst, and the police officers charged in the beating of motorist Rodney King, among many others.

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Deutsch’s courts career began with the 1969 trial and conviction of Sirhan Sirhan, the convicted assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

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“When a big trial loomed, AP’s assignment editors didn’t have to ask who should get the assignment,” said AP’s former executive editor and CEO Louis D. Boccardi in Deutsch’s AP obituary. “No, the instant question was, ‘Is Linda available?’” She mastered the art of celebrity trial coverage and, in the process, became something of a media celebrity herself.”

Survivors include uncle Marvin Sosna; cousins Elaine Deutsch, Lisa Deutsch and Lana Sternberg; and godson Luke Rattray.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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