Defense for Nima Momeni claims Bob Lee did drugs with murder weapon in closing arguments

Defendant Nima Momeni’s lawyers concluded their closing argument Tuesday with a shocking video clip they said showed Cash App creator and deadly stabbing victim Bob Lee using the same knife that killed him hours later to make cocaine.

In the defendant’s well-known murder trial, defense lawyers’ final arguments brought the case to a spectacular close. Momeni is charged by the state with fatally stabbing tech executive Lee early in the morning of April 2023 in a lonely area of San Francisco’s East Cut neighborhood.

According to the prosecution, the fatal stabbing occurred following a contentious argument about his sister’s relationship with Lee and their continued drug use.

Lee and his companion Borzu Mohazzebi appeared to use cocaine outside the Battery club just hours before the stabbing, according to video that was shown in court for the first time on Tuesday. However, defense lawyer Saam Zangeneh said that the knife used in the murder was the same one that the two used to take the drugs.

Zangeneh remarked after Tuesday’s session, “They buried it,” in reference to the footage. “I promise that they were unaware that we had located it. Because they would have dealt with it if they had known.”

That’s not conceivable, according to Timothy Oliver Lee, the victim’s brother.

Bob never carried a knife, and he never used a knife to cut himself. I just think it’s crazy,” he remarked.

At the conclusion of his team’s closing argument, defense Zangeneh cited black and white surveillance footage, pointing to a cardboard replica of the Joseph Joseph paring knife used in the fatal stabbing, as evidence that Lee possessed the knife all along.

The assertion immediately contradicts the proof that Lee couldn’t have had the knife in his front jacket pocket, which was offered in the prosecution’s closing argument. Nothing was weighing that side of the garment down as it flapped in the wind, according to surveillance footage taken later that evening.

“The knife that was discovered outside the Caltrans parking lot is exactly the same size and form in his hands. Zangeneh remarked outside the courtroom, “That’s the knife.”

The defense has previously employed theatrics in its closing arguments. Zangeneh previously assured the judge and jury that the plastic bag did not contain cocaine by using a bag of sugar as a prop.

As he played the tape, Lee’s ex-wife Krista laughed mockingly, igniting a heated argument between the defense lawyer and her.

It wasn’t humorous, Zangeneh said, turning to face her straight. The court swiftly stepped in to restore order after the prosecutors’ swift objections.

“Outbursts during closing argument from a family member is such an unbelievably inappropriate, unprofessional and, candidly, rude thing to do,” Zangeneh added.

“He is yelling at Krista and the other individuals present in the courtroom. That hurts us a lot,” Timothy Oliver Lee remarked. “Nima Momeni is attempting to destroy Bob’s legacy and character in addition to killing him. And we are unable to tolerate that. That is unacceptable to us.”

Momeni’s defense lawyers made their last attempt to convince jurors of their client’s innocence by arguing that Momeni had no reason to stab Lee and attempting to create a lasting impression that would support their assertion that he acted in self-defense.

Prosecutors have the last say in criminal cases. The prosecution told jurors during their rebuttal that it would be like being struck by lightning thirty times for so many coincidences to come together to make Momeni’s claim conceivable.

They encouraged jurors to render a guilty judgment by exercising common sense. In court, they said, “Do not let him get away with it.”

On Wednesday, the matter is anticipated to be sent to the jury for consideration. Momeni faces 26 years to life in prison if found guilty.

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