Chiefs focus Nima Momeni, the man accused in the fatal stabbing of tech executive and Cash App founder Bob Lee, testified that Lee attacked him after getting angry about “a bad joke” at his murder trial Wednesday.
Momeni was arrested nine days after
Lee was fatally stabbed in April 2023
in San Francisco’s Rincon Hill/East Cut neighborhood. Prosecutors allege that Momeni stabbed Lee with a kitchen knife taken from his sister Khazar Momeni’s apartment. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder and his defense attorneys claim Momeni was defending himself from a drug-addled Lee.
Wearing a navy blue suit, Momeni first took the stand at around 10:45 a.m.
On Wednesday under questioning from defense attorney Saam Zangeneh, Momeni described his upbringing in Tehran, Iran. The 40-year-old tearfully recounted how he, his sister, and his mother left Iran when he was 15 years old to escape abuse at the hands of his father. Momeni also described learning martial arts after moving to the Bay Area and dropping out of college to work an assortment of jobs.
Jurors listened intently as Momeni spoke for the first time in court and for the first time in public anywhere since being arrested and charged with Lee’s murder.
His defense attorney then directed his testimony to describe his relationship with his sister Khazar who he said is separated in age by one year. Momeni testified Khazar’s drug use has gotten worse over the years and has affected their relationship.
“Since COVID it’s gotten worse,” said Momeni. “The amount and intensity of binges and emotions and reactions … all of these things have intensified much more … just go on for days.”
Prosecutors have highlighted text exchanges with her brother in the hours following Lee’s murder, calling him “psychotic” and “lunatic.” Early testimony in the trial focused on Khazar Momeni’s relationship with Lee
and their alleged drug use
. Khazar Momeni is married to prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon Dino Elyassnia, and during Nima Momeni’s testimony Wednesday, he said his sister and her husband have “an open marriage.”
“They have their rules, they respect each other … it works for them and they’re happy with it,” he testified. “They’re grown people, they can do whatever they want.”
Nima Momeni also described the events leading up to Lee’s murder, including getting a phone call from emotional-sounding Khazar Momeni asking to be picked up after “having a bad trip.”
Momeni also described his interactions with Lee the night before the stabbing, describing Lee as “chatty” and said they had no conflict. Momeni also said he was upset after learning of
an alleged sexual assault of his sister by one of Lee’s acquaintances
while she was incapacitated because of drugs, and claimed he was not upset with Lee.
Momeni said they left his sister’s apartment together with the idea of possibly going to a strip club. The defendant said they drove to Main Street and pulled over when Lee spilled his drink. He noted that at one point, he thought Lee was going to vomit.
Though he shed tears earlier in his testimony, the defendant was calm and collected on the stand as he explained how Lee became infuriated after Momeni made what he called a bad joke.
He said he told Lee that he would rather hang out with his family than go to a strip club if it was his last night in town.
Momeni said that comment enraged Lee and led to him attacking Momeni with a knife. He said Lee went from zero to a hundred, his anger visible in his face.
What followed was a dramatic courtroom reenactment of what the defendant claimed happened next.
Momeni said he attempted to stop Lee’s arm holding that knife and pinned it against Lee’s chest, pushing him back two times.
Lee then walked away in the other direction on his phone. Momeni said he saw the knife on the ground and tossed it over a fence to prevent Lee from retrieving it. He said all of this happened without him knowing Lee was fatally injured.
Defense attorneys also showed jurors texts between Momeni and Lee hours before the fatal stabbing. They argued the texts show a cordial new relationship between the two men, an attempt to bolster the defense’s argument that Momeni had no motive to attack Lee. In one text, Momeni thanked Lee for talking earlier about an incident with Momeni’s sister.
In the afternoon, the prosecution got their first chance to cross examine Momeni. At times, the defendant became agitated.
The prosecution pressed Momeni on why a bad joke would lead to Lee attacking him. Momeni said the bad joke was one he took to heart, The prosecution responded that he did take it to heart, referencing the stab wound to Lee’s vital organ that proved fatal.
That moment caused the judge to briefly intervene, asking all parties to pause and take a breath as she attempted to diffuse the tension in the courtroom as Momeni got increasingly defensive.
Lee’s family was rocked by his testimony. One family member adamantly told reporters outside the courtroom that Lee’s version of events simply did not add up.
“He’s a liar,” said Bob Lee’s brother, Timothy Oliver Lee. “That makes no sense. How do you stab someone three times and then think that they’re not injured? In the little lies that he’s done where he’s saying ‘I don’t know what this means’ from his sister, I’m hoping that the jury sees that and sees it as evidence of all the rest of the lies.”
“That’s what my brother saw that night, is him getting angry. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I think it actually shows that there is no doubt about what actually happened,” Lee’s brother added.
Momeni will return to the stand for more cross-examination Thursday morning.
On Tuesday, defense attorneys called a medical expert to the witness stand Tuesday
who testified that it is possible that their theory of self-defense could be true
.
Florida-based physician and pathologist Dr. John Marraccini told jurors that based on Lee’s wound pattern, the wounds could have been self-inflicted as Momeni defended himself from an attack. Marraccini testified that at least one wound could have been sustained when Lee pulled out a knife from his pocket and was quickly stopped by Momeni – and in doing so, penetrating Lee’s skin.
However, the doctor’s credibility was brought into question when Marraccini acknowledged that he splits his time as a family practitioner and a private consultant where he testifies “99%” for the defense and “1%” for prosecutors.
During cross-examination on Wednesday, Marraccini admitted that the prosecution’s theory is possible, that Lee sustained his fatal wounds from a direct attack by Momeni.
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