Judge denies Democratic donor Ed Buck's request to be released from jail, calling him 'a danger to the community who has no health risk that make him a greater risk of getting COVID-19'
A judge denied Democratic donor Ed Buck's request to be released on Friday, claiming he posed a danger to the community. U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella A. Oliver said that the conditions presented by Buck's attorney were 'insufficient' to ensure that the embattled donor would show at trial, KCAL reports. Oliver also said that Buck's legal team failed to show how the medical staff at the Metropolitan Detention Center were incapable of handling their client's medical needs, after the defense expressed concern with Buck getting COVID-19. She added that he did not appear to have any medical conditions that seemed to put him at risk for catching the virus at 66 years of age. 'Ed Buck was asking to be confined to his home,' Jasmyne Cannick, who has advocated for the victims, shared. 'Home is where his crimes were committed. Home is where his drugs were delivered to. Home is where he was injecting people and sexually assaulting people. Home is where two Black men died. So we're excited and happy that the judge saw fit to deny his bail.''
On Friday, at a bail reconsideration hearing, Buck's defense attorneys argued that Buck, 66, is at high-risk of contracting coronavirus if he remains locked up. According to court papers obtained by City News Service, Buck said he was willing to pay a $400,000 signature bond as well as be electronically monitored and confined to his home. The attorneys also argued that Buck suffers from gum disease and needs specialized cardiac care that the criminal justice system is unable to provide. Federal prosecutors were against his release, claiming Buck is a flight risk and he represents a potential danger to the public. Since 2017, two African-American men have been found dead from drug overdoses in Buck's West Hollywood home. Prosecutors allege Buck would bring the black men to his home and then inject them with crystal methamphetamine for sexual gratification. In July 2017, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore, who was working as an escort, was found dead in Buck's apartment, lying naked on a mattress in the living room. Just a year-and-a-half later, in January 2019, a second man, 55-year-old Timothy Michael Dean, was found dead in Buck's home. Buck was arrested in September 2019, and charged with three counts of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house. In August 2020, a federal grand jury charged Buck with four additional felonies, bringing the total number of federal charges to nine counts. This includes a count alleging Buck knowingly enticed Moore to travel to engage in prostitution as well as another man. He is also charged with one count of knowingly and intentionally distributing meth and one count of using his home to distribute meth as well as the sedatives gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and clonazepam.
Prosecutors say Buck 'engaged in a pattern of soliciting men to consume drugs that Buck provided and perform sexual acts at [his] apartment,' according the court papers viewed by City News Service. He allegedly met victims on gay dating websites and social media platforms, and even hired a recruiter to scout men for him. When the men arrived at his apartment, Buck would allegedly fill syringes with meth and inject the victims with or without their consent. If found guilty of the narcotics charges, Buck faces a minimum of 20 years in federal prison and a maximum of life without parole. The trial is currently scheduled for January 19, 2021. He also faces charged in Los Angeles County for allegedly running a drug den out of his apartment, but the federal trial will take place first.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8775677/Judge-denies-Democratic-donor-Ed-Bucks-request-released-jail.html