Dem Donor Ed Buck Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Murdering Gay Black Men – Opinion

Two counts of murder, seven counts of narcotics distributor and former male model Ed Buck were convicted and sentenced to 30 year imprisonment in federal prison. Buck, who was 67 years old, used methamphetamines to inject homeless gay men with methamphetamines in West Hollywood. Two of those men died after Buck administered fatal doses; another man, now known as Dane Brown, “was repeatedly injected by Buck but survived and his harrowing account of being revived twice finally led to Buck’s arrest in 2019.” Brown’s encounters with Buck occurred after the two deaths Buck was eventually convicted of murder in occurred, but then-District Attorney Jackie Lacey had declined to press charges due to what she described as a lack of evidence.

Brown’s story showed that Buck was methodical and callous. As victim Gemmel Moore’s mother, LaTisha Nixon, alleged in a wrongful death civil suit against the creep, it seemed he had a “Tuskegee Experiment-like fetish.”

Before Buck’s arrest in September 2019, Brown told investigators he had been homeless when he met Buck on Adam4Adam, a gay dating and escort site, and moved in with him for part of summer 2019, where Buck had injected him daily for five weeks.

Brown was overdosed two times in a week. Brown claimed that Buck didn’t call for an ambulance after his second overdose. Brown had to call 911 from a gas station nearby.

When Buck was arrested prosecutors argued for a high bail, saying that “the full scope of his malicious behavior is unknown” and characterizing him as “a violent sexual predator who preys on men struggling with addiction and homelessness.”

Jurors in the trial saw extremely graphic evidence detailing the “party and play” sessions that occurred at Buck’s apartment, and apparently it was so graphic that the judge was afraid jurors might need therapy after the trial:

Buck made hundreds of photos and videos of men using meth or smoking in an apartment.

Video evidence at trial was so shocking that Christina A. Snyder (U.S. District Judge) urged the prosecutors to not present it aggressively as this could cause traumatization of jurors.

“It may well be that we offer counseling to them at the end of the case,” she said.

Even with these comments Judge Snyder was unable to decide on a sentence.

Judge Christina A. Snyder said the sentencing decision was difficult as she balanced the philanthropic work Buck had done in his life supporting LGBTQ and animal rights causes with the “horrific crimes” that she called “more than just an accident.”

Buck’s attorneys asked for a 10-year sentence, lower than the minimum of 20 years, while prosecutors asked for life. Buck, at age 67 is very unlikely to be released from prison.

Buck gave more than $500,000 in donations to Democrats between 2000-2000, most notably California. The biggest recipient of his largesse is Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), who received $26,500 from Buck, $18,000 of which went to Lieu’s congressional campaigns. Buck made donations to both the Presidential Campaigns of Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton.

You know what I mean, anyone can take a photograph with a politician.

That’s Ed Buck, a prominent Democrat donor from L.A. Ted Lieu is the man wearing the red shirt. CA Congressman Adam Schiff may be the one on the right with the pink shirt.

You don’t know any other people. https://t.co/8EwcPJEsLH pic.twitter.com/QnWDwgRqm2

— Soquel by the Creek (@SoquelCreek) April 14, 2022

Buck still faces state drug charges.