Context
escaped charges before…Statute of limitations does not run on murder :)
Prior Death
Prosecutors have declined to file charges against prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck in connection with the fatal overdose last summer of a 26-year-old man at Buck’s West Hollywood home, citing insufficient evidence, according to court records.
In a document dated Thursday, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said that the “admissible evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that Buck gave Gemmel Moore drugs or is responsible for the man’s July 2017 death.
The document also cited an inadmissible search and seizure, but did not provide details.
Seymour Amster, an attorney representing Buck, said Thursday that the move was a “complete exoneration” for Buck. “Gemmel Moore’s death was a tragedy. It’s now clear that Ed Buck had nothing to do with it,” Amster said.
Los Angeles County coroner's officials had concluded that Moore died from an accidental methamphetamine overdose in Buck’s Laurel Avenue apartment, which was littered with drug paraphernalia. Paramedics found Moore naked on a mattress in the living room, the coroner’s report said.
They ruled Moore's death an accident, and an initial review by sheriff’s deputies found nothing suspicious. But in August 2017, homicide detectives launched a new investigation after Moore’s mother and friends questioned whether the drugs that killed him were self-administered.
A notebook found in Moore’s possession indicated he used drugs with someone whose name is redacted in the coroner’s report. The Times has reviewed pages of that journal, in which Moore purportedly wrote about using crystal methamphetamine.
“Ed Buck is the one to thank,” Moore appears to have written. “He gave me my first injection of chrystal [sic] meth.”
Moore's mother, LaTisha Nixon of Texas, had questioned whether Buck’s ties to elected officials and differences in race and class influenced the investigation. Buck, who is 63 and white, is a longtime political donor, onetime West Hollywood City Council candidate and a well-known figure in LGBTQ political circles. Moore, who was black, had been homeless and had worked as an escort.
Homicide investigators presented their case to prosecutors July 10. The district attorney’s office reviewed and rejected four charges: murder, voluntary manslaughter, and furnishing and possessing drugs.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ed-buck-prosecutors-20180726-story.html
If there's evidence of similarities of method, etc., they could still file on the first case
Come on LBTQ… protect your own!
The body of another young black man has been found at the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck — a prominent Democratic donor who allegedly has a fetish for drugging sex workers — reports Wehoville.
Buck, a white man in his 60s, was investigated previously by authorities after the death of Gemmel Moore, who died of a methamphetamine overdose in Buck's home in July 2017. Since Moore's death was classified as an accidental overdose, numerous young black gay men have alleged that Buck has a fetish for shooting drugs into black men he picks up off the street or on hookup sites. Moore had written about Buck injecting him with dangerous drugs before his death.
“I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” Moore wrote in his journal in December 2016. “Ed Buck is the one to thank. He gave me my first injection of crystal meth.”
Buck claims he's not responsible for Gemmel's death and did not furnish him with drugs. The L.A. County District Attorney declined to file charges against Buck, claiming there was "insufficient evidence."
The name of the person who died in Buck's home in the early hours of Monday has not been released. Wehoville described him as a young African-American man and featured a picture of a body being removed on a gurney.
Community activists like Jasmyne Cannick have accused Los Angeles officials of declining to prosecute Buck in 2017 thanks to his contributions to powerful politicians like Hillary Clinton, California governor Jerry Brown, L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti, and numerous local West Hollywood councilmembers. Cannick is organizing a vigil and rally for tonight in front of Buck's home, at 1234 Laurel Avenue.
"City Council members John D’Amico and Lindsey Horvath have reached out to City Manager Paul Arevalo, asking him to request that newly elected Sheriff Alex Villanueva put priority on investigating [the young man's] death," Wehoville reports. "Councilmember Lauren Meister also has pressed for the homicide division to investigate."
Developing…
UPDATE: Jasmyne Cannick, a communications and public affairs strategist who has worked with Gemmel Moore’s family, has announced that there will be a rally at 7 p.m. tonight at 1234 Laurel Ave., the home of Ed Buck, to call on the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to arrest Buck and for District Attorney Jackie Lacey to “prosecute him for murder after another young Black gay man was found dead in his West Hollywood apartment of an apparent overdose.”
A young African-American man was found dead early this morning in the Laurel Avenue apartment of Ed Buck, where a death in July 2017 sparked a protest about its handling by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and about the reaction to the incident by Democratic Party politicians.
Sheriff’s deputies and the coroner were on the scene at 1234 Laurel Ave. at around 3:15 a.m. according to nearby residents.
The death on July 27, 2017, of Gemmel Moore, then 26, was deemed by the L.A. County Coroner’s office to be a result of an overdose of methamphetamine. A coroner’s report said drug paraphernalia was found in the home, along with sex toys and clear plastic bags containing what was suspected to be methamphetamine. The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute Buck saying the evidence is “insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that (Buck) is responsible for the death of Gemmel Moore. Likewise, the admissible evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that suspect Buck furnished drugs to Gemmel Moore or that suspect Buck possessed drugs.”
Before the 2017 incident Buck, a gay white man in his early 60s, had been an active donor to Democratic candidates ranging from Hillary Clinton in her race for president to John D’Amico in his initial and successful race for a seat on the West Hollywood City Council.
City Council members John D’Amico and Lindsey Horvath have reached out to City Manager Paul Arevalo, asking him to request that newly elected Sheriff Alex Villanueva put priority on investigating his death. Councilmember Lauren Meister also has pressed for the homicide division to investigate.
As of publication, WEHOville has been unable to get further details about the incident but will update this story as they become available. WEHOville also has reached out to Ed Buck for comment but has not received a response.
https://www.wehoville.com/2019/01/07/sheriffs-deputies-investigating-another-death-ed-bucks-laurel-avenue-apartment/