By Cynthia Gibson
Contributing Writer
LOS ANGELES — It was back in 2017 when LaTisha Nixon began searching for a way to bring public attention to the circumstances surrounding her son’s death and hold his killer accountable. At the time, she did not know that she was embarking on a nine-year journey — one that would ultimately lead to a 30-year federal conviction for Ed Buck and a $2 million wrongful death jury award.
Nixon’s son, Gemmel Moore, a 26-year-old Black gay man, died of a methamphetamine overdose in the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck, a 64-year-old white political donor. In the early morning hours of July 27, 2017, Moore’s nude body was discovered in Buck’s living room alongside an assortment of drugs and paraphernalia.
Nixon possessed her son’s journal, which chronicled his complicated relationship with Buck. One entry suggested that Buck had introduced Moore to methamphetamine. Nixon became convinced that Buck had administered the fatal dose.
At first, many news outlets declined to publicize the story out of fear of legal repercussions. Eventually, Nixon connected with a reporter who referred her to someone willing to listen: Jasmyne Cannick, a journalist, community advocate and political strategist.
From that moment, a coalition began to form.
The team Nixon and Cannick assembled to pursue justice included attorneys Nana Gyamfi, Hussain Turk and Seelai Ludin, along with activist Jerome Kitchen and multiple social justice and advocacy organizations. From the outset, their objective was clear: hold Ed Buck accountable and ensure he could never harm anyone else again.
Looking back, Nixon said the lowest point in the journey came when few people believed what had happened.
“I’m trying to explain the situation, and it’s just so bizarre,” Nixon said. “People accuse you of lying or being an absent parent or thinking you’re just here for money. They don’t realize that I’ve been there the whole time. I never left my son.”
What sustained her through the years was prayer, staying busy and supporting other parents who had also lost children. Her mission extended beyond justice for Moore — she wanted accountability and to send a message to other predators.
The process also reshaped Nixon’s perspective on law enforcement and the legal system. She said the experience taught her that justice can take years, but perseverance matters.
“Get a good support system, a good team, stay prayed up, and try to stay as positive as possible,” Nixon said. “Keep pushing, no matter what it looks like.”
Now that the case has reached this milestone, Nixon said she is finally ready to grieve.
“I prayed for this day to come because I’ve been in fight mode for almost nine years,” she said. “Now I just want to mourn. I haven’t been able to mourn. Nine years, and I still haven’t mourned.”
Nixon credits Cannick’s advocacy background, social justice work, and ties to the LGBT community as critical to the fight for accountability. Cannick instructed Nixon to record a one-minute video detailing Moore’s death and calling out elected officials for their inaction. She then launched her own investigation and, as Nixon put it, “hit the ground running.”
Cannick still has the Aug. 10, 2017 email from a colleague asking for help obtaining Moore’s police incident report. After hearing Nixon’s account and learning that media outlets had ignored repeated outreach, Cannick began researching and writing about the case.
As the story gained visibility, other Black gay men began reaching out with photos, videos and accounts of their own drug-fueled sexual encounters with Buck.
“That’s how I started on it,” Cannick said.
Because Cannick was an elected Democratic Party delegate and Buck was a major donor, they moved in overlapping political circles. At the time, then–Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, a close friend of Buck, allegedly dismissed the accusations and encouraged others in party leadership to do the same.
“Which only made us get louder,” Cannick said.
Because the Moore case intersected so many aspects of her life — as a writer, political strategist, and member of the queer community — Cannick found herself taking on multiple roles.
Neither Cannick nor Nixon ever imagined the case would eventually result in a $2 million jury verdict.
“It was so hopeless at the time,” Cannick said. “Nobody wanted to talk about it. Everybody kind of shunned us. It wasn’t a good feeling at all.”
Cannick said the most discouraging moment came when she learned of a second death in Buck’s apartment: Timothy Dean, a 55-year-old Black gay man, who died 18 months later on Jan. 7, 2019, also from a methamphetamine overdose.
Previously, after reviewing Moore’s death, then–Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s office concluded that “admissible evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that Buck had provided the drugs or caused Moore’s death.
“Jackie Lacey had the opportunity to prosecute Buck and take him off the streets, and she didn’t,” Cannick said. “I feel like Timothy Dean could still be alive. There were lives lost because of that inaction.”
Her advice to others pursuing justice: stay the course.
“You may not win in the end, but you’ll win in your heart knowing that you didn’t give up and you did all that you could do,” Cannick said.
Attorney Hussain Turk had just graduated from UCLA and passed the bar in 2017 when he encountered a group of Black and brown protesters in West Hollywood and stopped to learn what had happened. At the time, he was working in legal aid serving people living with HIV/AIDS and individuals engaged in sex work.
“When I heard the underlying story, it really struck me,” Turk said. “I recognized a connection between the victims in this case and the community I was already serving.”
Initially, Turk’s role focused on helping witnesses and victims safely come forward to speak with investigators and law enforcement without fear of being arrested for discussing their own experiences with drug use or criminalized sex work.
Over nine years, the case deepened his understanding of both the law and its contradictions.
“I acknowledge the very real fact that the criminal justice system has been used to oppress Black people and other communities of color,” Turk said. “That understanding has not changed. But police also protect victims and remove dangerous people from the streets. I now know that two contradictory things can be true.”
As a newly licensed attorney, Turk said one of the hardest parts was learning in real time.
“I filed this lawsuit before electronic filing was even standard,” he said. “I was literally standing in line at the courthouse with this huge stack of papers asking the clerk, ‘How do we do this?’”
At the same time, Turk was navigating his own recovery from drug addiction while working on a case centered on substance abuse and exploitation.
“There was a significant period during this case when I thought, ‘I just can’t be a lawyer anymore because I can’t keep it together,’” he said. “But the memory of Gemmel, the survivors, and the witnesses inspired me not to give up. I don’t know if I’d be standing here sober today if it had not been for this case.”
Although the $2 million jury verdict represents a significant acknowledgment of harm, Hussain emphasized that the broader systemic issues remain unresolved.
“The gay community experiences significantly higher rates not only of sexual violence, but also of drug addiction,” he said. “Long after marriage equality and advances in HIV treatment, why are we still sick and suffering? I believe it’s because we haven’t done the spiritual and interpersonal work to heal. That’s not something laws alone can change.”
Attorney Nana Gyamfi said the verdict and monetary award serve as a formal recognition of the damage inflicted by Buck.
“This verdict is an acknowledgment of harm — harm done to Gemmel Moore, harm done to his mother and family, and harm done to a community that too often sees vulnerable Black lives treated as disposable,” Gyamfi said.
On March 4, a jury awarded Nixon $2 million in her wrongful death case against Ed Buck. Buck is expected to appeal the verdict.
