Murder trial of tech consultant in stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee to go to jurors
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Closing arguments in the high-profile murder trial of a tech consultant charged in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee concluded Tuesday, with both sides urging jurors to use their common sense to deliver justice.
The case is expected to go to the jury for deliberation Wednesday.
Prosecutors, who delivered their closing Monday, say Nima Momeni planned the April, 2023, attack after hearing that the tech mogul had introduced his younger sister to a drug dealer who she says gave her GHB and other drugs and then sexually assaulted her at his apartment.
Momeni lured Lee to an isolated spot by the Bay Bridge, stabbed him three times with a knife from his sister’s kitchen set and drove away in his car, they say.
Defense attorneys say Lee was on a multiday cocaine and alcohol bender and attacked Momeni with the knife over a bad joke, forcing the consultant to defend himself. Momeni testified during trial that Lee later walked away, showing no signs he was injured.
If convicted, the 40-year-old Momeni faces 26 years to life in prison. The trial began Oct. 14.
One of his five attorneys, Saam Zangeneh, said Tuesday that Momeni was not angry with Lee so he had no motive to kill him. And even if he had a motive to kill, Zangeneh asked, why would he use an old “beat-up” paring knife after leaving a high-security condo with Lee, knowing there's surveillance cameras everywhere?
“They have to prove to you guys beyond a reasonable doubt that it wasn’t self defense," Zangeneh said.
Surveillance video shows the two men leaving the posh condo of the defendant’s sister, Khazar Momeni, around 2 a.m. and getting into Momeni’s BMW. Other surveillance footage then shows them getting out of the car near the Bay Bridge, where the stabbing took place.
Lee was found staggering on a deserted downtown San Francisco street at 2:30 a.m., dripping a trail of blood and calling for help. He later died at a hospital.
Omid Talai, an assistant district attorney, said in court Tuesday that Lee, 43, died far too young.
“But he does not always need to be a man who died without justice. Help is what he begged for, he was dying and crying for help while the defendant drove away,” he said. “Help Bob by following the law and using your common sense.”
The murder weapon — a paring knife with a roughly 4-inch blade — had Momeni's DNA on its handle and Lee's DNA on the blade. Defense attorneys said DNA evidence was not definitive and at the least, both blade and handle should have shown DNA from both men.
The afternoon before the stabbing, Lee and Khazar Momeni had been doing drugs and drinking at the apartment of a drug dealer Lee knew. Lee left before Nima Momeni went to pick up his sister, who told him she had been assaulted.
A friend of Lee's testified Momeni then grilled Lee over the phone about what happened to his sister while at the drug dealer’s apartment. Zangeneh attacked the friend's credibility and also replayed surveillance video showing that Lee had been angry at one point, and not the peaceful “teddy bear” family and friends described him to be.
Video and text messages show Momeni then met up with with Lee at his sister's condo. She eventually kicked them out, saying she needed to sleep. The men departed.
Momeni testified he stopped his car after going over a pothole that caused Lee to spill the beer he was holding. Momeni said he then cracked a joke suggesting Lee should spend the last night of his visit with family instead of trying to find a strip club to keep the party going.
That's when he says Lee pulled out the knife from his jacket pocket, and attacked.
"I was scared for my life,” Momeni said in earlier testimony that was at times rambling and contentious.
The prosecution mocked Momeni’s story, pointing out that he never called police to report Lee’s alleged attack or even after he learned Lee had died of stab wounds on the street where he had last seen him.
Prosecutors showed text messages Khazar Momeni sent her brother, asking where he had dropped off Lee — a question he sidestepped. She also sent a text message to Lee checking on him because her brother came “down hard on you” and to thank him for “handling it with class.” On the witness stand, she said she didn't remember much from that time.
In its closing, the prosecution showed video of Lee leaving the condo with Momeni, his jacket flapping to show there was no knife hidden inside.
In its closing, the defense showed video of Lee and his friend several hours earlier, doing lines of cocaine off the tip of what they said was a knife the exact size and shape of the murder weapon.
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