NAME THAT PARTY: Jury awards $2M in trial over wrongful death lawsuit against political donor Ed Buck.

A jury awarded $2 million Wednesday in the civil trial of a wrongful death lawsuit against high-profile Southern California political donor Ed Buck.

The brief trial started Monday and resulted in a verdict Wednesday, when a jury of five men and three women unanimously found Buck liable for the drug overdose death of Gemmel Moore in 2017 and awarded his mother damages.

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Moore and Timothy Dean died of methamphetamine overdoses 18 months apart — Moore in July 2017 and Dean in January 2019.

Buck denied the allegations, maintaining that 26-year-old Moore was a long-time drug user and friend, and that they used methamphetamine and other drugs together. Buck claims Moore willingly participated in the actions alleged by his mother.

Evidence in the criminal case showed Buck lured young Black men who were often experiencing homelessness, addiction, and/or poverty to his West Hollywood apartment for sexually charged so-called “party and play” sessions in which he would inject them with methamphetamine and drug them with sedatives, with and without their consent.

After less than a day of deliberations on July 27, 2021 — the four-year anniversary of Moore’s death — the federal jury in downtown Los Angeles found Buck guilty of all nine charged felony counts.

“Unexpectedly,” CTRL+F “Democrat” brings back zero results in yesterday’s NBC-LA story. But even NPR managed to include his party affiliation in their 2021 headline: Democratic Donor Ed Buck Is Convicted In Deaths Of 2 Men He Offered Drugs For Sex.