XPost: la.general, alt.politics.media, alt.business
XPost: dc.politics

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/09/17/8321528-6573905-image- a-6_1547055571738.jpg

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/09/17/8321230-6573905-image- m-12_1547055672514.jpg

California Democratic activist and megadonor Ed Buck has hired
former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden to defend him
against federal charges in connection with two overdose deaths
at his West Hollywood apartment, according to new reports.

Buck was indicted in October with distributing methamphetamine
that resulted in the deaths of Timothy Dean in January and
Gemmel Moore in 2017.

Federal prosecutors said Buck, 65, who has given hundreds of
thousands of dollars to Democratic causes, preyed on vulnerable
gay black men and pressured them to let him inject them with
drugs as part of a sexual ritual known as “party and play," NBC
Los Angeles reported.

Buck was arrested Sept. 17 and hit with state charges of
operating a drug house. Two days later, federal prosecutors
charged him with distributing methamphetamine that resulted in
Moore’s death.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Darden confirmed he will
take on the Buck case: “That’s all I can say today,” he said. “I
haven’t received any discovery yet, so that’s all I can say.”

The newspaper reported that court records show Darden replaced
Buck’s deputy public defender, Claire Simonich, on Dec. 5.

Buck is being held without bail, and his trial is set for August
at the earliest.

The federal charges bring a mandatory minimum sentence of 20
years if Buck is convicted in the deaths.

Family members of the victims had criticized local prosecutors
for not charging Buck in the deaths. Moore’s family and friends
have said Buck got favorable treatment because of his status and
reputation, and that the victims were ignored because they were
gay black men, drug users and often sex workers.

“If white gay men had been dying in a black man’s house or
anybody’s house, rather, this case would have been taken a lot
more seriously,” said Jasmyne Cannick, a communications
strategist who spearheaded the effort to get justice for Moore.
“Ed Buck knew who he was preying on, and he knew that people
would not care. Or he thought that people would not care.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey has said
politics played no role in her decision not to prosecute Buck in
the deaths of the two men. She defended her decision and said
there was insufficient evidence to proceed with murder charges.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reopened the case
after the second death in January.

In July, the U.S. attorney’s office took the case after
sheriff’s detectives approached a federal task force
investigating opioid overdoses.

Buck 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.

Buck gained fame by leading a 1987 campaign to recall Republican
Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham, who was ultimately convicted in an
impeachment trial and kicked out of office.

Buck had been a Republican but said he switched party
affiliation to Democrat because he felt the GOP was intolerant
toward the gay community.

He has told reporters that he worked as a male model in Europe
in his youth and returned to Phoenix, where he worked for a
friend’s company, eventually buying it out of bankruptcy for
$250,000 and turning it around for a profit of more than $1
million.

He said he retired to West Hollywood in 1991 at the age of 37
and became active in animal rescue efforts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ed-buck-hires-former-oj-simpson- prosecutor-christopher-darden

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