Ed Buck hires former OJ Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden for defense

California Democratic activist and megadonor Ed Buck has hired former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden to defend him against federal charges in connection with two overdose deaths at his West Hollywood apartment, according to new reports.

Buck was indicted in October with distributing methamphetamine that resulted in the deaths of Timothy Dean in January and Gemmel Moore in 2017.

Federal prosecutors said Buck, 65, who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic causes, preyed on vulnerable gay black men and pressured them to let him inject them with drugs as part of a sexual ritual known as “party and play,"  NBC Los Angeles reported.

Buck was arrested Sept. 17 and hit with state charges of operating a drug house. Two days later, federal prosecutors charged him with distributing methamphetamine that resulted in Moore’s death.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Darden confirmed he will take on the Buck case: “That’s all I can say today,” he said. “I haven’t received any discovery yet, so that’s all I can say.”

The newspaper reported that court records show Darden replaced Buck’s deputy public defender, Claire Simonich, on Dec. 5.

Buck is being held without bail, and his trial is set for August at the earliest.

The federal charges bring a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years if Buck is convicted in the deaths.

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Family members of the victims had criticized local prosecutors for not charging Buck in the deaths. Moore’s family and friends have said Buck got favorable treatment because of his status and reputation, and that the victims were ignored because they were gay black men, drug users and often sex workers.

“If white gay men had been dying in a black man’s house or anybody’s house, rather, this case would have been taken a lot more seriously,” said Jasmyne Cannick, a communications strategist who spearheaded the effort to get justice for Moore. “Ed Buck knew who he was preying on, and he knew that people would not care. Or he thought that people would not care.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey has said politics played no role in her decision not to prosecute Buck in the deaths of the two men. She defended her decision and said there was insufficient evidence to proceed with murder charges.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reopened the case after the second death in January.

In July, the U.S. attorney’s office took the case after sheriff’s detectives approached a federal task force investigating opioid overdoses.

Buck has donated tens of thousands of dollars to California candidates, including Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, and is well known in LGBTQ political circles. According to federal records, Buck contributed more than $500,000 to Democratic groups -- including $1,500 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign and $2,950 to the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Buck gained fame by leading a 1987 campaign to recall Republican Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham, who was ultimately convicted in an impeachment trial and kicked out of office.

Buck had been a Republican but said he switched party affiliation to Democrat because he felt the GOP was intolerant toward the gay community.

He has told reporters that he worked as a male model in Europe in his youth and returned to Phoenix, where he worked for a friend’s company, eventually buying it out of bankruptcy for $250,000 and turning it around for a profit of more than $1 million.

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He said he retired to West Hollywood in 1991 at the age of 37 and became active in animal rescue efforts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.