LOS ANGELES (KESQ) – A federal civil jury was selected Tuesday in the trial of a lawsuit brought against former West Hollywood political donor and now-imprisoned felon Ed Buck by the mother of a man found dead in Buck’s apartment nine years ago.

The 71-year-old Buck was convicted in Los Angeles federal court in 2021 of the overdose deaths of Gemmel Moore and a second man, and is serving a 30-year prison sentence for providing fatal doses of methamphetamine to the victims.

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

Nixon, who contends 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, is seeking damages on behalf of her late son.  

Buck denies the allegations, maintaining that 26-year-old Moore was a long-time drug user and friend, and that they used methamphetamine and other drugs together. Buck claims Moore willingly participated in the actions alleged by his mother.

“Tragically, Mr. Moore accidentally died during a consensual round of drug use with Mr. Buck,” according to Buck’s attorneys, who argue that Nixon does not deserve damages.

Evidence in the criminal case showed 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 — the federal jury in downtown Los Angeles found Buck guilty of all nine charged felony counts.

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, evidence showed.

Buck — who had donated more than $500,000 to mostly Democratic causes and served in 2016 as one of California’s Electoral College members — 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.   

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 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.  

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.