A Dead Man Is Found at Home of Democratic Donor. Again.

Ed Buck's lawyer claims another accidental drug overdose
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 8, 2019 8:31 AM CST
A Dead Man Is Found at Home of Democratic Donor. Again.
   (Getty Images/carlballou)

A body was found Monday in the West Hollywood apartment of Democratic Party donor Edward Buck—and not for the first time. A black man in his 50s, whose identity has not been released, was pronounced dead around 1am following a 911 call, per KTLA and CBS Los Angeles. While an autopsy is pending, Buck's attorney, Seymour Amster, says a longtime friend who'd "taken some substances" before arriving died of an accidental overdose while Buck was home. He adds Buck was sober and didn't provide drugs—a key detail as another black man died of a methamphetamine overdose at the same spot, also in Buck's presence. Gemmel Moore, 26, was found naked on a mattress surrounded by 24 syringes, according to a coroner, who ruled the July 27, 2017, death to be accidental.

Another investigation was launched—in his journal, Moore purportedly blamed Buck for his drug addiction and for administering his first injection of crystal meth—but prosecutors this summer rejected charges of murder, voluntary manslaughter, and furnishing and possessing drugs for lack of evidence, reports the Los Angeles Times. Investigators will now conduct a secondary review of the case while looking into the latest incident, Lt. Derrick Alfred tells KTLA, noting "it is suspicious that this has happened twice now." Rallying outside his apartment Monday night, dozens of activists called for Buck's arrest. Denying his responsibility for either death, however, Amster suggests his client is only unlucky. He's "had longtime friends who, unfortunately, do not handle their life well then succumb when they are in the apartment of Mr. Buck," he says, per KTLA. (More overdose stories.)

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