Radar Online
Democrat political donor Ed Buck will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars for injecting people with drugs leading to two deaths.
Democrat political donor Ed Buck will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars for injecting people with drugs leading to two deaths.
On Thursday, a federal judge sentenced Buck to 30 years in prison. He was convicted during a trial in July 2021 of nine counts, including distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death.
It was less than the life sentence that prosecutors asked for, but will likely leave the 67-year-old Buck behind bars until he dies.
“Buck thought his victims' lives didn't matter and that he could act with impunity. He was wrong about both,” prosecutors wrote in a document detailing the government's sentencing recommendation. “His depraved conduct warrants the most severe sentence of life imprisonment.”
Buck, who lived in California, had a practice of luring people, typically young Black men, to his West Hollywood apartment to “party and play,” prosecutors stated. The victims were typically experiencing homelessness or addiction.
During the gatherings, Buck injected victims with methamphetamine and drug them with other compounds, according to prosecutors. The drugging was sometimes done without consent.
Twice Buck gave lethal injections. On July 27, 2017, Buck killed Gemmel Moore. Then on Jan. 7, 2019, he killed Timothy Dean.
One victim testified at trial that he let Buck inject him with drugs because he was homeless, and it gave him a place to rest. When Buck couldn't get someone to agree, he simply injected the drugs without permission.
“A chorus of victims bravely shared their harrowing experiences with Buck, who treated them like lab rats in his twisted experiments,” prosecutors noted. “He rendered them unconscious, and then continued to inject – and sometimes sexually assault – them while they were incapacitated.”
The defense asked the judge for a sentence that was less than life. They argued Buck is elderly and ill.
Attorneys for Buck also claimed that a sentence that focused on rehabilitation instead of punishment was the proper course of action.
Buck was a big donor to the Democratic, LGBTQ and animal rights groups, according to CBS News. He worked as a male model and made a fortune in business.
