XPost: la.general, alt.politics.media, alt.business   
   XPost: rec.arts.tv.comedy.colbert-report   
   From: eric.garcetti.democrat.black.penis.slut@disney.com   
      
   Ed Buck today pleaded not guilty to federal charges stemming   
   from the overdose deaths of two men inside his West Hollywood   
   apartment, with the judge setting a tentative trial date of Nov.   
   26.   
      
   Buck’s plea at the downtown Los Angeles federal courthouse was   
   followed by an appearance outside by friends and relatives of   
   Timothy Dean and Gemmel Moore – the men found dead in Buck’s   
   apartment at 1234 N. Laurel Ave. — who described themselves as   
   having come together as a family in their struggle to deal with   
   the deaths and to push for the arrest and prosecution of Buck.   
   LaTisha Nixon, Moore’s mother, carried his ashes.   
      
   In the press conference after Buck’s arraignment, the speakers   
   praised federal investigators for arresting Buck on the murder   
   charges and condemned Los Angeles County District Attorney   
   Jackie Lacey for not more aggressively pursuing the charges   
   against Buck.   
      
   West Hollywood and its gay community – overwhelmingly composed   
   of white men — also was criticized. Paul Scott, a founder of the   
   Los Angeles Black LGBT Pride Movement, said that gay black   
   people didn’t feel accepted in West Hollywood. “We’re certainly   
   not seen as human in West Hollywood,” he said.   
      
   Cory McLean, a friend of Gemmel Moore’s, described what he   
   called a “dehumanizing of black men … The gay life in West   
   Hollywood has exacerbated this.”   
      
   At the brief court appearance, Buck, 65, who remains in federal   
   custody, was dressed in off-white prison garb and apparently had   
   difficulty hearing, telling the magistrate judge, “I’m working   
   with one hearing aid.”   
      
   In addition to the tentative trial date of Nov. 26, the judge   
   booked a Nov. 4 motions hearing and Nov. 19 status conference.   
      
   Buck is named in a five-count indictment that charges him with   
   alleged narcotics distribution offenses, including providing   
   methamphetamine to Moore and Dean, each of whom died after being   
   injected with the drug at Buck’s apartment at North Laurel   
   Avenue apartment. Each of the charges alleging the distribution   
   of narcotics resulting in death carries a mandatory minimum of   
   20 years in federal prison and a maximum penalty of life without   
   parole upon conviction.   
      
   The indictment alleges that Buck provided methamphetamine to   
   Moore, who was 26 years old when he overdosed on the drug and   
   died on July 27, 2017, and Timothy Dean, 55, who suffered a   
   fatal overdose in Buck’s apartment on Jan. 7. Buck also faces   
   three counts of distributing methamphetamine to men in May 2018,   
   December 2018 and last month.   
      
   The indictment alleges that Buck “engaged in a pattern of   
   soliciting men to consume drugs that Buck provided and perform   
   sexual acts at Buck’s apartment,” which is a practice described   
   as “party and play.” Buck allegedly solicited victims on social   
   media platforms, including the gay sex hookup site   
   Adam4Adam.com, and used a recruiter to scout and proposition men.   
      
   Once the men were at his apartment, Buck prepared syringes   
   containing methamphetamine, sometimes personally injecting the   
   victims with or without their consent, according to the   
   indictment. Buck also allegedly injected victims with more   
   narcotics than they expected and sometimes injected victims   
   while they were unconscious.   
      
   “Buck exerted power over his victims, often targeting vulnerable   
   individuals who were destitute, homeless, and/or struggled with   
   drug addiction, in order to exploit the relative wealth and   
   power imbalance between them,” the indictment alleges.   
      
   One of Buck’s attorneys, Seymour Amster, has denied that his   
   client — who allegedly was present when the fatal overdoses   
   occurred in his apartment — had any involvement in either death.   
   Amster was not present at today’s arraignment, where Buck was   
   represented by Claire Simonich of the federal Public Defenders   
   Office. Simonich was assigned to Buck’s case on Sept. 19, which   
   has led to questions as to whether Buck cannot afford to retain   
   Amster, a private attorney who has represented him since Moore’s   
   death in July 2017.   WEHOville was unable to reach Simonich and   
   Amster declined to comment.   
      
   Buck also faces separate charges, including operating a drug   
   house, that were filed last month by the Los Angeles County   
   District Attorney’s Office. He is currently being held in   
   federal custody without bond, and the federal case is proceeding   
   first.   
      
   Buck, a former Republican who first made headlines in the 1980s   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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