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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
by the D.A., and the purpose of that is to see if there’s
evidence to charge a white person,” Sharaby said. “So that
allegation completely gets rid of their equal-protection
complaint that she’s discriminating against black people.”

Gyamfi argued that these immunity letters came only after
intense pressure from Nixon, her counsel, and the public, and
cannot be cited as evidence of the officials’ goodwill.

And Judge Carney seemed to agree, pushing back heavily on
Sharaby’s argument. “One of my concerns though is, that Mr. Buck
seems like a terrible man,” Carney said. “What he did was
terrible. Ms. Nixon—I don’t know how long before all the facts
about Mr. Buck came out—but she was giving the D.A.’s office a
heads up about this guy. I’m just wondering, why weren’t they
listening? Why weren’t they sitting down and talking to her?”

Sharaby cited prosecutorial immunity, arguing that you “can’t
force the D.A. to prosecute somebody with a civil lawsuit,” but
Carney cut him off.

“You have pretty descriptive reports of terrible conduct from
Mr. Buck—why wouldn’t the D.A.’s Office, law enforcement follow
up on that.”
— Judge Cormac Carney
“If you’ll indulge me, put aside the legalese for a moment. You
have pretty descriptive reports of terrible conduct from Mr.
Buck—why wouldn’t the D.A.’s Office, law enforcement follow up
on that?” the judge pressed. “As a matter of good policing
practices, as a matter of public relations. It’s not like
general allegations of misconduct. It’s Mr. Buck drugging, video-
taping, sexually assaulting, and raping black men. They’re
giving you specific names of who this is happening to. And the
D.A. says, ‘We’re not going to talk to you.’ I just don’t
understand that.”

“Well,” Sharaby said. “The Sheriff’s Department investigated the
incident—based on the evidence they gathered—they gave the
evidence to the D.A. and they make their judgment based on the
evidence they have. That’s the answer.”

In September, after a third alleged victim survived an overdose
in Buck’s West Hollywood apartment, federal authorities arrested
the longtime Democratic donor and charged him with operating a
drug house, battery, assault, and administering meth resulting
in Moore’s death. A month later, a federal grand jury indicted
Buck on a second count for the death of Dean.

Carney will decide on the motion later this week.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-demands-answers-from-da- jackie-lacey-about-racial-bias-in-ed-buck-case

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