A federal prosecutor accused Ed Buck’s defense of “despicable victim shaming” on Friday after a lawyer for the suspect in two methamphetamine overdose deaths dismissed eight men who testified against Buck as drug addicts who were lying to make money.
The harsh exchanges came after nearly two weeks of searing testimony came to an end in Buck’s federal trial on charges of supplying the crystal meth that killed two Black men in his West Hollywood apartment during “party and play” sessions involving drugs and sexual activity. The jury will begin deliberations Tuesday.
In closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors the evidence against Buck was overwhelming: graphic videos he took of naked men smoking and shooting up meth and of him touching their genitals while they were asleep or unconscious; Buck’s text messages inviting men to use drugs; 911 calls he placed when Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean died in his apartment; testimony that he injected meth into the arms of men who were passed out.
Buck “used these human beings as his own sex toys, playing Russian roulette with their lives because it was the only thing that could get him off,” Asst. U.S. Atty. Lindsay M. Bailey said.
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