A federal appeals court in Pasadena Monday rejected a former Democratic political donor’s bid to overturn his conviction for supplying drugs to two men who overdosed and died in his West Hollywood apartment.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s 30-year prison sentence for Ed Buck, who was convicted of nine felony counts stemming from the deaths of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean.
Evidence showed Buck, now 70, lured young Black men who were often experiencing homelessness, addiction and poverty to his apartment for sexually charged so-called “party and play” sessions in which he would inject them with methamphetamine and drug them with sedatives, with and without their consent.
Moore and Dean died of methamphetamine overdoses 18 months apart — Moore in July 2017 and Dean in January 2019.
After less than a day of deliberations on July 27, 2021 — the four- year anniversary of Moore’s death — a federal jury in downtown Los Angeles found Buck guilty of all charged counts.
Over the course of the two-week trial, federal prosecutors called more than 20 witnesses, including four men who told of smoking methamphetamine that Buck provided and then being pressured to allow the defendant to inject them with the drug.
Buck donated more than $500,000 to mostly Democratic causes and served in 2016 as one of California’s Electoral College members.
In April 2022, Buck was sentenced to 30 years behind bars.
In his appeal, Buck claimed a West Hollywood sheriff’s deputy’s warrantless entry into his apartment and seizure of drug evidence violated his Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable searches and seizures. However, the appeals court found that the trial judge did not err in finding that the deputy’s entry was authorized by implied consent because Buck had called authorities to report that one of the victims had suffered a medical emergency.
Buck also unsuccessfully argued that evidence presented during trial was insufficient to support the convictions. Further, the appellate panel stated that when presented with “competing views” as to how Moore and Dean died, “the jury was entitled to believe the government’s medical experts.”
The appeals court also found that convictions for maintaining a drug- involved premises and inducing men into interstate prostitution, were supported by ample evidence.
Finally, the panel stated that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by imposing a sentence of 30 years, “which was below the recommended sentencing guidelines range,” according to the 9th Circuit memorandum issued Monday.
Buck is being sued in L.A. federal court for wrongful death by LaTisha Nixon, whose son Gemmel Moore was one of the two men who died in Buck’s apartment. A pretrial hearing is scheduled Friday.
A Superior Court judge earlier this month dismissed a lawsuit against Buck brought by the sisters of Timothy Dean, the second man to die in Buck’s West Hollywood apartment, citing the plaintiffs’ lack of participation in the case.
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