XPost: la.general, alt.politics.media, rec.arts.tv.comedy.colbert-report   
   XPost: dc.politics   
   From: felcher.adam.schiff@sacbee.com   
      
   The family of a black man who OD’d in activist Ed Buck’s home   
   claims racial bias played into the decision not to prosecute.   
      
   LOS ANGELES—A federal judge on Monday grilled lawyers   
   representing Los Angeles prosecutors about whether racial bias   
   was a factor in the decision not to prosecute politically   
   connected activist Ed Buck in the 2017 overdose death of a black   
   man.   
      
   The pointed questioning came during a hearing in a lawsuit filed   
   by the family of Gemmel Moore, who died in Buck’s home, against   
   District Attorney Jackie Lacey, Assistant District Attorney   
   Craig Hum, and the County of Los Angeles.   
      
   After Moore overdosed on methamphetamine, his family provided   
   authorities with substantial evidence, including the names of   
   several other victims, that Buck engaged in a pattern of   
   drugging, video-taping, and sexually assaulting black men.   
      
   In July 2018, Lacey and her colleagues declined to prosecute   
   Buck. Six months later, after another man, Timothy Dean, died in   
   Buck’s home, Moore’s mother, LaTisha Nixon, filed a lawsuit   
   accusing them of wrongful death, civil-rights violations, and   
   discriminatory conduct by failing to take seriously the   
   complaints of black women.   
      
   “Why didn’t they follow up and bring charges against Mr. Buck?”   
   Judge Cormac Carney asked defense attorney Farid Sharaby, who   
   represents the defendants, on Monday.   
      
   “Is there anything to Ms. Nixon’s concern that the reason she   
   and others are being told to pound sand is because she’s black?   
   I’m just trying to understand what’s a plausible basis for   
   this—when you have specific allegations of misconduct, but   
   you’re not meeting with these victims? You’re not prosecuting   
   them? Why didn’t they?”   
      
   Monday’s hearing was centered on a motion filed by the defense   
   to dismiss the causes of action against Lacey, who is black, and   
   the other officials, who claim that their conduct was not   
   motivated by racial bias.   
      
   In a Dec. 24 response to that motion, Nixon’s attorneys wrote   
   that “Ms. Lacey was aware that young black men were making   
   complaints about torture and abuse at the hands of Ed Buck since   
   the time of Mr. Moore’s death.”   
      
   “She assigned Mr. Hum to work with counsel representing Mr.   
   Moore and… made public statements regarding the investigation   
   which acknowledged that she knew about the substance of the   
   complaints made by Ms. Nixon against Mr. Buck. At no time did   
   she reach out to Ms. Nixon to follow up on her complaints.   
   Instead, Ms. Lacey ignored them,” they wrote.   
      
   In arguments at the hearing, Nixon’s attorney, Nana Gyamfi, told   
   stories of her client’s alleged mistreatment at the hands of   
   public representatives. Last February, for example, Nixon made   
   plans to speak with Lacey at her office and deliver a petition   
   with some 30,000 signatures requesting further investigation   
   into Buck. But when Nixon, her attorneys, and a crowd of   
   supporters approached the District Attorney’s Office for that   
   meeting, Gyamfi said, they were turned away by a wall of armed   
   guards.   
      
   “The way that Ms. Lacey responded to her speaks to the racial   
   animus,” Gyamfi said. “She didn’t just send someone downstairs   
   to say, ‘I changed my mind. I don’t want to have this   
   conversation.’ She instead sent down about 12 sheriff’s   
   deputies, as well as three other people from her office, who   
   indicated that they would not take the petitions and that they   
   would not meet with anyone. When we begged and Ms. Nixon begged   
   for her, at least, to be able to come in... that was flatly   
   refused. Ms. Nixon was treated like a criminal.”   
      
   Gyamfi went on to argue that her team intended to review   
   complaints filed by black women with the county Sheriff’s   
   Department and the District Attorney’s Office of violence   
   against themselves or their loved ones—specifically when the   
   perpetrator was not black—see if there was a pattern of ignoring   
   their concerns. “We think we’ll find that the situation is even   
   more egregious,” Gyamfi said. “When we look at, not just the   
   case of Ms. Nixon, but the cases of black mamas who have tried   
   to reach out to Ms. Lacey about the killing of their children by   
   police officers, you’ll find that same failure to respond.”   
      
   In response, Sharaby argued that Lacey, Hum, and the county   
   could not be guilty of discriminatory conduct or intent, because   
   they had granted several alleged victims immunity, meaning they   
   could speak freely without fear of being charged. “Ms. Lacey set   
   up this system where you have black young men speaking to the   
   police and incriminating themselves, but they won’t be charged   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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