What will happen to Ed Buck?
Criminal defense attorney David Bruno weighs in on Ed Buck's future after a third man overdoses at his home.
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., said Wednesday that it was “incomprehensible” that authorities took so long to arrest Democratic megadonor Ed Buck on charges of causing a drug overdose.
“It’s incomprehensible to me that it took a third black gay man to be attacked and almost die to finally dissolve the unconscionable apathy that has allowed Ed Buck, a racist sexual predator, to roam free,” said Bass, whose district adjoins Buck's home neighborhood of West Hollywood. “Everyone knew that he preyed on young black men. ... The inaction in response had a message was loud and clear: Black gay lives obviously didn’t matter.”
Bass raged on Twitter later Wednesday that the potential punishment for the state charges against Buck add up to "less than three years per life Ed Buck killed —serial killers don’t stop until they are caught. How many more vulnerable Black men would he have killed? There should be no bail.”
Buck appeared in court on the state charges Thursday, and his arraignment was postponed until next month. He was held on $4 million bail. On Thursday, federal prosecutors announced that Buck had been charged with distributing methamphetamine resulting in the death of 26-year-old Gemmel Moore at Buck's home in July 2017. If convicted of the federal charge, Buck faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.
State prosecutors described Buck as a “violent, dangerous sexual predator” who offered drugs, money and shelter to mainly addicted and homeless men in exchange for participating in sexual fetishes. One fetish involved administering dangerous doses of drugs, the documents said.
CLINTON, OBAMA SILENT ON ED BUCK DONATIONS
When Fox News asked about why it took so long to charge Buck, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Investigator Quilmes Rodriguez said: “The investigation is ongoing.”
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif. (Congressmember Karen Bass)
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokesman Greg Risling said: “Our office declines comment. And as for a strong statement from our office, you have our bail motion that spells out what you are looking for.”
Buck was arrested Tuesday after a third man reportedly suffered a methamphetamine overdose inside his home last week — and survived. Another man, 55-year-old Timothy Dean, overdosed and died at the home in January 2018.
Buck, 65, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to California candidates, including Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, and is well known in LGBTQ political circles. According to federal records, Buck contributed more than $500,000 to Democratic groups, including $1,500 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign and $2,950 to the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Prosecutors say Buck met his latest victim on Sept. 11 and injected him with two dangerous doses, refused to assist him and “thwarted” his efforts to get outside help until the man fled the apartment and called 911 from a gas station.
“His deadly behavior has not stopped,” prosecutors said in the court documents.
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Buck’s “predatory acts and willful disregard for human life must be stopped before another life is lost,” the documents said.
In addition to operating a drug house, Buck is charged with furnishing methamphetamine and with battery causing serious bodily injury. Messages to Buck's attorney, Seymour Amster, were not immediately returned.
