The tech consultant accused in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee had no motive to kill him and in fact was forced to defend himself against Lee, who had become aggressive while using drugs for several days, they said. Nima Momeni’s lawyers in their opening statements. on Mondays.
Prosecutors say Momeni, 40, planned the April 4, 2023, attack after a dispute over his younger sister, Khazar, with whom Lee was friends. They say Momeni took a knife from a unique set at his sister’s condo, took Lee to a secluded area and stabbed him three times, then fled.
“Stab in the heart and left to die,” said Omid Talai, assistant district attorney, “our victim was stabbed repeatedly, once in the chest, once in the hip, and literally once pierced through her heart.”
Lee’s death at age 43, after stumbling onto a deserted downtown San Francisco street looking for help, shocked the tech community, with fellow executives and engineers writing tributes to the charismatic businessman’s generosity and brilliance. Lee was a product manager at cryptocurrency platform MobileCoin when he died. He was the father of two children.
Judge Alexandra Gordon has told jurors that the long-awaited trial that began Monday in San Francisco Superior Court is expected to last two months. Momeni, who lives in nearby Emeryville, California, has been in custody since his arrest days after Lee died in a San Francisco hospital.
Momeni has pleaded not guilty. He faces a sentence of 26 years to life in prison if convicted.
Attorney Saam Zangeneh told the jury that defense attorneys will show that Momeni bore Lee no ill will and that wound patterns show Momeni was forced to defend himself after Lee pulled a knife from his pocket, drugged and having slept only six hours during a four-day period of cocaine use and drinking.
“We believe that once we present this case… and once we fill in the gaps, the only viable verdict in this case is a not guilty verdict,” Zangeneh said. “Someone is dead. Nobody likes that, but you have the right to defend yourself.”
Momeni, seen at previous court hearings dressed in orange prison clothing, sat Monday with his lawyers, dressed in a dark suit. His mother, who has been steadfastly present at the hearings, was in the courtroom.
Across the room sat members of Lee’s family, including his ex-wife, father and brother. Lee’s brother put an arm around his father as the 911 call Lee made was repeated in court. In it, Lee is heard repeatedly asking for help, unable to answer the operator’s questions about where he was and what his name was. He said he had been stabbed.
Talai, the assistant district attorney, said jurors will hear from a friend of Lee’s, who was with him and Momeni’s sister the day before Lee was stabbed. The friend will testify that Momeni angrily interrogated Lee on the phone that night about his sister, drugs and “girls getting naked,” acting like “an overprotective, wannabe tough guy” while Lee appeared calm and happy, Talai said.
Zangeneh said it would show that the friend is not a reliable witness and that Momeni and Lee had exchanged friendly text messages that night. Lee probably invited Momeni to join him at a strip club, Zangeneh said.
Surveillance video from Lee’s last night shows him entering the elegant Millennium Tower downtown, where Momeni’s sister lives with her husband, a prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon. The video shows Lee and Momeni leaving the building after 2 a.m. and leaving together in Momeni’s car.
Another video will show the two men getting out of the car at a secluded spot next to the Bay Bridge, and then Momeni stabbing Lee three times, throwing the knife from his sister’s kitchen set and driving away quickly, Talai said. Prosecutors will share text messages in which Momeni, the next morning, told his sister that he did not know what happened to Lee that night, but that he was preparing a rape case against her, thinking that Lee had assaulted Lee. Khazar, Talai said.
The attorney added that video recorded by a San Francisco police detective who was following Momeni before his arrest shows him reenacting the three stabbing moves outside his former attorney’s office, but there is no reenactment of a fight over the knife that Momeni’s lawyers say Lee wielded first. .
Police recovered a knife with a 10cm (4in) blade in the secluded area where Lee was stabbed. Prosecutors said tests showed Momeni’s DNA on the handle of the gun and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade.
Zangeneh said Monday that police should have examined the handle for fingerprints, specifically Lee’s. He scoffed at the idea of Momeni bringing what was essentially a “peeling” knife from his sister’s kitchen to kill Lee, saying Momeni didn’t realize Lee was hurt, much less mortally wounded. .
He said his client was eager to tell his side of the story, but they had not decided whether Momeni would testify in his defense.
Relatives of Momeni and Lee declined to comment Monday.