Ed Buck case: Mother of Gemmel Moore awarded $2 million in wrongful death lawsuit

Ed Buck case: Victim's family awarded $2M in suit

A jury awarded $2 million to the mother of a man found dead in former West Hollywood political donor and now-imprisoned felon Ed Buck's apartment nine years ago.

LOS ANGELES - A jury awarded $2 million to the mother of a man found dead in former West Hollywood political donor and now-imprisoned felon Ed Buck's apartment nine years ago.

The wrongful death lawsuit came to trial after Buck failed to finalize and sign a 2024 settlement agreement with Gemmel Moore's mother, LaTisha Nixon.

Victim's mother awarded $2 million 

What we know:

Nixon argued that Buck engaged in unlawful and negligent conduct, wrongful death, sexual battery, assault, hate violence based on Moore's race, human trafficking and revenge porn, and sought damages on behalf of her late son.

Buck was convicted in 2021 of the overdose deaths of Moore and a second man, and is serving a 30-year prison sentence for providing fatal doses of methamphetamine to the victims.

Buck, 71, maintained that 26-year-old Moore was a long-time drug user and friend, and that they used methamphetamine and other drugs together. Buck claimed Moore willingly participated in the actions.

LOS ANGELES CA SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 -- Prominent Democratic Party donor Ed Buck appears in court Thursday, September 19, 2019, on state charges of running a drug den in his West Hollywood apartment. (Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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"Tragically, Mr. Moore accidentally died during a consensual round of drug use with Mr. Buck," according to Buck's attorneys.

What they're saying:

"I feel vindicated, I feel seen," Nixon said outside court on Wednesday. "I feel relief. I feel happiness. I feel sadness. I'm all over the place. It sends a signal to the predators that we know are out there that ... we're going to come after you."

Ed Buck convicted in 2021

The backstory:

The trial, which began Tuesday, showed evidence that Buck lured young Black men who were often experiencing homelessness, addiction and/or poverty to his West Hollywood apartment for sexually charged so-called "party and play" sessions in which he would inject them with methamphetamine and drug them with sedatives, with and without their consent.

Moore and Timothy Dean died of methamphetamine overdoses 18 months apart — Moore in July 2017 and Dean in January 2019.

After less than a day of deliberations on July 27, 2021, the four-year anniversary of Moore's death, a federal jury in downtown Los Angeles found Buck guilty of all nine charged felony counts.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 

• Ed Buck found guilty on all counts for giving meth to 2 men who died in his WeHo apartment
• Ed Buck sentenced in drug deaths case

Evidence showed that Buck solicited his victims in various ways, including using social media platforms, dating and escort websites, or via referrals from prior victims, including individuals he hired to do other work for him, offering a finder's fee for referrals.

Buck was convicted of two counts of distribution of controlled substances resulting in death. He was also found guilty of enticing Moore, who had moved to Texas, to travel to Los Angeles to engage in prostitution; knowingly and intentionally distributing methamphetamine; and using his apartment for the purpose of distributing narcotics such as methamphetamine, and the sedatives gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and clonazepam.

Deaths were a result of his "fetish" 

Prosecutors said Buck caused the deaths as a result of his "fetish" for injecting men with increasing doses of methamphetamine until they became comatose. The defense countered that the victims suffered from serious medical conditions that ended their lives.

Buck declined to testify in his own defense.

Over the course of the two-week criminal trial, federal prosecutors called more than 20 witnesses, including four men who told of smoking methamphetamine that Buck provided and then being pressured to allow the defendant to inject them with the drug.

What's next:

Buck is facing an additional civil trial in Santa Monica on behalf of Dane Brown's estate. Brown, 43, survived several drug overdoses at Buck's home and testified at the criminal trial but was found dead in South Los Angeles in November 2024.