Live updates: Jury deliberation enters day 4 in Nima Momeni trial
SAN FRANCISCO - The murder trial of a tech consultant in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee began Oct. 14 in San Francisco, a year and a half after the entrepreneur was found staggering on a deserted downtown San Francisco street seeking help.
Prosecutors say Nima Momeni, 40, planned the April 4 attack after a dispute over his younger sister, Khazar Momeni, with whom Lee was friends. They say Momeni took a knife from his sister’s condo, drove Lee to a secluded area and stabbed him three times, then fled.
Defense lawyers disagree, and they say that Lee, high on drugs, attacked Momeni.
KTVU's Christien Kafton and Henry Lee will be in San Francisco Superior Court throughout the duration of the trial.
Follow along here for live updates from the courtroom.
Dec. 10, 2024
4:30 p.m.
The jury has gone home for the day. No verdict has been reached.
9 a.m.
The jury will continue to deliberate today.
Dec. 9, 2024
4:25 p.m.
The jury did not reach a verdict on Monday.
10 a.m.
The jury continues to deliberate Monday.
Dec. 5, 2024
4:33 p.m.
The jury continued to deliberate on Thursday, but did not reach a verdict. Deliberation will continue Monday.
Dec. 4, 2024
4:14 p.m.
The jury has gone home for the day after their first full day of deliberations. No verdict has been reached.
10:20 a.m.
Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon of San Francisco Superior Court has provided final instructions to the jury of six men and six women, reminding them that they must unanimously reach a verdict for defendant Nima Momeni. The panel will consider whether Momeni is guilty of first or second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter or an outright acquittal. They were led by a deputy to the jury deliberating room at 10:08 a.m.
Dec. 3, 2024
4:56 p.m.
Closing arguments conclude. In final summation to jury, prosecutor Omid Talai accuses defense of misleading and distracting jury and says either Momeni killed Bob Lee or that "this is the biggest damn coincidence in the history of coincidences," referring to Momeni's various explanations as to what happened. The judge will give the jury final instructions tomorrow before they begin deliberating.
3:28 p.m.
In a surprise move, defense attorney Saam Zangeneh showed jurors surveillance video he said shows Bob Lee snorting cocaine with friend Bo Mohazzabi the night before Lee was killed. Zangeneh said the video has been in evidence all along and questioned why the prosecution didn't bring it up with the jury.
12 p.m.
"There's no motive here," defense attorney Saam Zangeneh repeatedly told jurors. He derided the prosecution's theory that Momeni attacked Lee because Lee's alleged drug dealer had touched Momeni's sister's behind. "Imagine how crazy it sounds. Kill the friend of someone that touched his sister's butt and gave her a drug? Does that sound crazy? Because that's what they're saying."
11:11 a.m.
Defense attorney Saam Zangeneh, bolstering the self-defense theory that Bob Lee attacked Nima Momeni with a knife, downplayed the fact that Momeni's sister owned Joseph Joseph knives, the same brand of knife that was used to kill Lee. He said those brands of knives can be found at "Bloomingdales, Target, Williams-Sonoma, Whole Foods - it's everywhere."
"I'm going to let you use your common sense. It's a beat-up, small paring knife. The sister lives in a luxury apartment, wealthy family, high-end place. When you open a cabinet drawer with the intent to commit murder, you pick up the most beat-up, nastiest knife?" Zangeneh then went further, suggesting Lee had brought the knife - from points unknown - in order to use to "scoop, sniff," in other words, to snort cocaine.
10:30 a.m.
Defense attorney Saam Zangeneh is starting his closing argument.
He sought to do damage control with respect to defense witness Steven Pomatto, a retired SFPD inspector who was branded by the DA as a liar for claiming to have been a Navy SEAL while applying for a position on an SFPD tactical team back in 2004.
Zangeneh noted that Pomatto's alleged lie was never mentioned publicly during his decades on the force, not when he served as an inspector, nor a trainer at the SFPD academy nor as an internal affairs investigator.
"I don't know if the San Francisco Police Department sweeps liars under the rug when it helps them, but boy, do they bring it out when it hurts them." Zangeneh said this means scores of people who were arrested for "assault, drug-dealing, rape, you name it" will be "running to the courthouse to reopen cases."
10:20 a.m.
A female juror has been reported to be ill and has since been replaced by another female juror. The composition remains the same: 6 men and 6 women.
Dec. 2, 2024
3:35 p.m.
Prosecutor Dane Reinstedt has wrapped up the prosecution's initial closing argument after asking the jury to find Momeni guilty of murdering Bob Lee. The defense will present its summation on Tuesday morning.
2:30 p.m.
Prosecutor Dane Reinstedt continued with his closing argument this afternoon. He derided Momeni's testimony in the trial, saying, "He's trying to tell you what's black is white and what's up is down."
He said Momeni clearly re-enacted the stabbing death of Bob Lee while speaking with a former defense investigator, an exchange that was secretly recorded by police.
Momeni has said his arm motions actually showed what Lee was doing with the knife.
"That is the most convoluted explanation of this video." The DA said the defense hired experts who "workshopped ideas to come up with something that could possibly match up to the wounds and the evidence that we see in this case."
He said the defense paid experts to come up with theories, including Steven Pomatto, a retired SFPD inspector who was not qualified by the court as an expert in anything. The DA also derided Momeni's testimony that Lee had come at him over a "bad joke."
Momeni told the jury Lee became enraged after Momeni told him that if he, Momeni, knew it was his last night in town, he'd spend it with his family instead of going to strip clubs. Reinstedt pointed to Momeni's own testimony that "it didn't make sense."
11:30 a.m.
Prosecutor Dane Reinstedt began his closing argument to the jury on Monday by playing the 911 call Bob Lee made in which he repeatedly pleaded for help.
"On April 4, 2023, one person called 911, pleading for help, saying somebody stabbed me, not that there was a struggle, not a passive 'I was stabbed.' Somebody stabbed me, telling us what happened that night and begging for help over and over and over. The other person did not call 911 that night, nor did he ever. Never contacted the police. He never told anyone about what it was that happened under the Bay Bridge that night until a year and a half later in this courtroom," Reinstedt said.
Reinstedt told jurors Nima Momeni told them a "carefully crafted story" in which Lee was stabbed "three separate times, deep clean wounds, clear punctures, deep enough and hard enough to insert the knife into his body further than the length of the blade itself. The other person suffered not a single injury." The defense presented to you ‘so-called experts’ to explain that somehow, fantastically, though he himself never held a knife, never had control of the knife that night, he somehow managed to stab Bob Lee, three separate and distinct times," the prosecutor said.
Nov. 21, 2024
4:30 p.m.
The trial will resume on Dec. 2 after Thanksgiving.
3:45 p.m.
Lauren Weiniger, another friend of Bob Lee, similarly testified this afternoon that Bob Lee was never violent or aggressive while using drugs, including cocaine.
2 p.m.
SFPD Capt. Brien Hoo has taken the stand.
He testified now-retired SFPD Insp. Steven Pomatto had told him in 2004 he was a Navy SEAL. The DA is seeking to discredit Pomatto as a defense witness. Pomatto told the jury it was possible Bob Lee had come at Momeni with a knife.
Pomatto also denied having told anyone in the department he was a Navy SEAL, chalking it up to a misunderstanding.
On the stand, today, however, Hoo said Pomatto's "substandard" shooting skills and the way he handled and manipulated his weapon "clearly showed to me he was not a Navy SEAL."
11:07 a.m.
A second witness, Carlos Whitt, who has also previously worked with Bob Lee, said he had seen Lee using cocaine and ketamine. Whitt similarly said he never saw Lee acting aggressively, erratically or violent while he was using those drugs.
"He's kind of like a teddy bear. He's incredibly affectionate, incredibly sweet, he likes to talk highly about his friends, he loves to have deep conversations, so all of those qualities are enhanced."
10:30 a.m.
The prosecution is now calling rebuttal witnesses. Kristina Champion, a friend and co-worker of Bob Lee, said she also hung out with socially and confirmed he used cocaine, ketamine and acid. But she said Lee was never aggressive, erratic or violent while using those drugs.
Nov. 18, 2024
2:45 p.m.
The defense called retired SFPD Inspector Steven Pomatto.
He opined he believed a reasonable explanation of Bob Lee's hip wound was that Lee produced a knife, the other party, in this case Momeni, clenched Lee's wrist and Lee tried to wrench free, leading to a stab wound to his hip, and that a continued struggle over the knife could have led to two other stab wounds to Lee, one that pierced his heart and the other in a different part of his chest.
On cross-examination, prosecutor Omid Talai suggested in his questioning that Pomatto had falsely claimed to have served as a Navy SEAL while applying to join a specialized SFPD unit. Pomatto denied that he had lied. Pomatto did acknowledge that he had never served as a homicide inspector and had never qualified in court to be an expert in self-defense.
11:45 a.m.
Nima Momeni is officially done as a witness after answering several rounds of questions from jurors
10:30 a.m.
Nima Momeni is back on the stand Monday morning, answering written questions submitted by jurors for the judge to read.
Some questions: Did you hear Bob Lee's 911 calls for help?
"He was quiet when he walked away from me. He just walked away from me. There was no communication when he left."
Why didn't you call the police after Mr. Lee attacked you and why didn't you, for example, pursue an assault case against him?
"I knew who he was. He seemed fine as he walked away. I was fine. I called the only person I knew, my sister, and told her don't let him in the house. Everything seemed fine."
Did you grip the handle (of the knife) at any point during the altercation?
"Not during the altercation. I just picked it up from the ground."
Nov. 14, 2024
10:20 a.m.
Prosecutor Omid Talai has resumed his cross-examination of defendant Nima Momeni.
A minute in, Momeni asked questions of his own, prompting the prosecutor to ask Momeni if it was a coincidence that here he was on the stand, asking the DA question after question, given that he had apparently peppered Bob Lee with question after question the night Lee was killed.
The two talked over each other repeatedly and were combative, prompting Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon to remind them that only one person could talk at a time. Momeni also accused the prosecutor of cherry-picking texts he had written to paint him in a negative light.
At one point, Momeni said a previous text he wrote was made when he was fighting or bickering with someone. The prosecutor asked, "So when you're in a fight, when you're angry, do you make bad decisions? Momeni parried by saying anyone in that situation could react that way.
"You would agree that if someone thinks their little sister was given drugs and raped that they would be very, very angry? Is that a fair statement?" "It depends on the situation," Momeni replied. "So you are saying there are circumstances where a brother might not be very angry if their sister was given drugs or raped?" "Objection as to relevance," interjected defense attorney Saam Zangeneh. The judge overruled the objection, and Momeni said his sister had asked for drugs and knew what she was taking. @ktvuwebteam (edited)
The prosecutor asked Momeni to confirm that, if in fact, there had been no animosity between him and Bob Lee, then why would Lee decide to put a knife in his pocket? Momeni said, "He was mad at me. He got aggressive. He pulled a knife on me. I had to defend myself." He reiterated that Lee had invited him to a strip club and that he had told Lee, "If I knew this was my last night in town, I would have spent it with my family instead of f- around in strip clubs."
That remark, according to Momeni, lead to the deadly encounter.
Nov. 13, 2024
3:42 p.m.
The prosecution has begun its cross-examination of Nima Momeni. There have been numerous prickly exchanges between Momeni and prosecutor Omid Talai, who made clear with the tone and tenor of his questions that he believed Momeni's version of events was a "story." "Your story is that this prominent, beloved, respected man, he wanted to kill you over a dumb joke?" Talai asked, referring to Momeni saying it was a "dumb joke" when he told Lee he would rather be with his family at 2:30 a.m. instead of a strip club. Momeni had testified Lee invited him to go to a strip club with him.
2:32 p.m.
Momeni testified he and Bob Lee were hanging out together and that the mood quickly changed after Lee asked Momeni if he wanted to go to a strip club. Momeni said Lee took offense when he said no and that he would prefer to be with his family. "That set him off," he said. Momeni said that led to a confrontation under the Bay Bridge outside Momeni's BMW. He says he saw Lee take out a knife from his jacket pocket and lunged from him. Momeni said he deflected the blows and Lee ended up getting stabbed in the chest. Momeni said he saw the knife on the ground and threw it over a fence because he didn't want Lee to retrieve it. Lee then casually walked off while on his phone, he said. "Did you know Lee was injured," defense attorney Saam Zanganeh asked. "No," Momeni replied. "Fatally injured?" "Absolutely not," he said.
1:29 p.m.
Nima Momeni began his testimony by admitting he was going through a range of emotions and that public speaking was not his forte. His attorney Saam Zanganeh led him through an introductory background, explaining how he, his younger sister Khazar and their mother left Iran to get away from his abusive father. He dabbed at his eyes with a tissue as he spoke about his father and apologized for being "emotional." Fast-forwarding to the night before Lee was killed, Momeni said his sister called him, asking him to pick her up because of a "bad trip" at a party where drugs, including GHB, had been supplied by Lee's alleged dealer. Momeni testified he found the situation "very unsettling" and that he was upset at the alleged dealer and not Lee.
10:45 a.m.
The defense calls defendant Nima Momeni to the stand.
Nov. 12, 2024
2:45 p.m.
This afternoon, the jury heard from Dr. John Marracini, a pathologist hired by the defense. He said his believes some of the wounds suffered by Bob Lee could have been the result of self-defense by the defendant.
He says Lee's autopsy showed he had alcohol, cocaine and ketamine in his system, which could have reduced Lee's sensitivity to pain and could have affected his predictability, reasonableness and perception.
The defense has said Lee was the aggressive one who came at Momeni with a knife, leading Momeni to take the knife and stab Lee in self-defense.
11 a.m.
Villegas testified that Khazar Momeni, defendant Nima Momeni's sister, has been known to exaggerate. Villegas confirmed under cross-examination that Bob Lee's alleged dealer did not engage in any sexual improprieties with either her or Khazar, nor did she hear anyone begging him to let them go, a direct contradiction to Khazar's testimony.
Khazar had previously told jurors that the alleged dealer had pulled down her pants in a sexual manner. Villegas testified today that the man was simply helping Khazar change out of her clothes.
Villegas confirmed she and Nima had exchanged text messages in which Nima asked her to write down everything she remembered with respect to her interactions with both Lee and the alleged dealer.
At one point, Nima Momeni wrote, "I will not talk about any of this to my sister or her husband and you don't need to protect her cause she already told me about him getting naked and stuff."
9:45 a.m.
The trial for Nima Momeni, the suspect in the death of Cash App founder Bob Lee is continuing Tuesday after a weekend break. Today is the 14th day of the trial.
Aranza Villegas is taking the stand again and is being cross-examined by the prosecution.
Nov. 7, 2024
4:41 p.m.
Aranza Villegas, who was with Khazar Momeni, the defendant's sister, in the hours before Lee was killed took the stand. Villegas told the jury she and Khazar were given drugs by Lee's alleged dealer.
As the DA questioned Villegas, Villegas appeared to distance herself from both Momenis, saying she "socialized" with Khazar but weren't friends, per se. Villegas also said the defendant was Khazar's brother and not her friend.
The trial will resume Tuesday since Monday is Veteran's Day.
12:15 p.m.
Trial resumed on Thursday after the prosecution rested its case.
Dr. Greg Hampikian, a DNA expert, is testifying as the defense's first witness.
Nov. 6, 2024
2:26 p.m.
The prosecution rested its case as of 2:26 p.m.
The judge excused the jury for the rest of the day. The defense will begin its case at 9:30 a.m. Thursday
Outside the presence of the jury, the defense moved for a mistrial on a couple of grounds, a standard move, but the judge denied that motion.
11:17 a.m.
SFPD Sgt. Brent Dittmer, the lead investigator in the Nima Momeni murder trial, is being cross-examined by the defense.
Throughout the trial, Dittmer had been sitting next to prosecutors at the DA's table. Now, he's on the witness stand, answering questions about details of the investigation.
He has confirmed a previous reference by the prosecution that the husband of Momeni's sister Khazar Momeni at one point had looked up "how to erase an iPhone."
Nov. 4, 2024
2:11 p.m.
On several occasions, Dr. Moffatt said, "I find these cases very challenging," referring to stabbing deaths, because it is difficult to precisely identify the kind and size of edged weapons used, as there are many variables, including how deep a wound was. The wound depth doesn't necessarily correlate with the length of the blade, especially if the blade doesn't penetrate completely into a body. She said Lee was stabbed in the heart.
2 p.m.
The jury is now hearing from Dr. Ellen Moffatt, a forensic pathologist who conducted Bob Lee's autopsy. She said he was stabbed three times. The prosecution projected a photo of Lee's body onto a screen for everyone in court to see. Krista Lee, Lee's ex-wife dabbed at her eyes. Lee's brother and father, who have been in court for the entire trial, were not present at this point in her testimony.
11:30 a.m.
On cross-examination, Sgt. Goff confirmed he could not hear what was said between Momeni and PI Brian Hedley. He confirmed the "stabbing motions" to the left torso area that he testified to, though did not confirm a wound victim Bob Lee suffered in his hip area. Goff also confirmed he could not tell whether Momeni was talking about movements by perhaps Lee or himself
At one point, the defense began asking Goff to confirm that he was involved in a "deadly self-defense incident," and the sergeant agreed. But the DA objected on relevance grounds. The attorneys and Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon left the courtroom to discuss the objection, which the judge later sustained.
10:30 a.m.
Sgt. David Goff of SFPD has taken the stand. He was part of a unit that conducted physical and electronic surveillance of suspects.
He testified he went to Momeni's home in Emeryville, didn't see him or his white BMW but found him at a sandwich shop in South San Francisco.
Goff said he then saw Momeni meeting up in Burlingame with Brian Hedley, a private investigator working for ex-defense attorney Paul Canny.
Goff said he saw Momeni having an "intense conversation" and making "stabbing motions with his right hand to the left torso of Mr. Hedley" before making a "tossing motion."
The sergeant said it appeared Momeni was acting as if he had an "edged weapon."
Goff said he recorded this exchange on his phone. Asked by prosecutor Omid Talai why he was recording the two men, Goff said he had noticed Momeni was smoking a cigarette and that he wanted to record Momeni hopefully finishing the cigarette. Goff had hoped to secretly retrieve the cigarette butt for a DNA sample, but Momeni ultimately smoked it down to the filter
Goff testified he did not see Momeni, in his conversation with PI Brian Hedley, act as if he had been struggling with someone, nor did Momeni make any motion toward his own chest. Goff said he didn't believe Momeni knew he was recording.
Oct. 31, 2024
San Francisco police criminalist Alain Oyafuso took center stage in the Nima Momeni murder trial on Thursday. Trial resumes Monday, Nov. 4.
2:29 p.m.
After a lunch break, Oyafuso, echoing testimony in a preliminary hearing, testified in essence that Momeni's DNA was found on the handle of a knife that was found near the crime scene, and that Lee's DNA in the form of blood was found on the blade. Under cross-examination, Oyafuso acknowledged, "Calculated results can vary, and I'm not sure the result."
11:28 a.m.
The jury is hearing this morning from SFPD Lt. Domingo Williams of Southern Station. He testified he took a buccal swab from defendant Nima Momeni. The defense asked numerous questions that made clear it wanted to ensure everything related to the procedure was properly done, from the swab itself to how it was stored before it was opened.
The jury also heard from SFPD criminalist and DNA expert Alain Oyafuso on direct.
Oct. 30, 2024
4:12 p.m.
Jury heard from two other SFPD officers who testified about a search at Khazar Momeni's husband's unit in a different part of the Millennium Tower, as well as a search of Nima Momeni's home in Emeryville. The trial resumes Thursday.
2:07 p.m.
SFPD Sgt. Thomas Moran takes the stand.
He testified that during a search of murder defendant Nima Momeni's sister Khazar Momeni's unit in the Millennium Tower after the homicide, he found a Joseph Joseph-brand knife in a kitchen drawer.
The prosecution says another Joseph Joseph knife was used by Nima Momeni to kill Lee.
11:34 a.m.
Officer Milad Rashidian testified he put together a compilation of surveillance videos showing the movements of Cash App founder Bob Lee and defendant Nima Momeni.
The prosecution said the videos show Lee and Momeni together in an elevator of the Millennium Tower, where Momeni's sister Khazar Momeni lives, before the two get into Momeni's white BMW parked outside.
Video then showed Momeni driving off and obeying all traffic laws while headed toward the Bay Bridge, where authorities say Momeni fatally stabbed Lee.
The officer testified Lee appeared to be walking normally and similar to how he appeared earlier in the evening in videos, which drew defense objections.
On cross-examination, Rashidian confirmed he could not discern any level of intoxication of either Momeni or Lee from the videos.
9:45 a.m.
The trial for Nima Momeni is set to resume in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday.
SFPD Officer Milad Rashidian is back on the stand. He is testifying about how he retrieved video from various locations during the investigation.
Follow along here for updates from KTVU's Henry Lee, who will be in the courtroom.
Oct. 24, 2024
8 a.m.
The trial for Nima Momeni won't resume until next Wednesday, Oct. 30, at the earliest.
The San Francisco Superior Court clerk strike prompted cancelation on Thursday.
Oct. 23, 2024
3:40 p.m.
We are now hearing from SFPD homicide Sgt. John Hallisy, who worked on the Momeni case for a day. He testified he was asked by a fellow homicide investigator to track a BMW that was pinging in the area of BMW of San Francisco. He said he found the white BMW in the dealership's parking lot and had it towed by CSI for evidence.
3:30 p.m.
Escarrega testified it was Nima Momeni's mother Mahnaz Tayarani Babai, who was not the registered owner of her son's 2020 BMW Z4, and Khazar Momeni who tried to sell the car to BMW of San Francisco. But the sale didn't immediately go through because they didn't own the car. On cross-examination, Escarrega said he was not aware that the relatives were trying to raise funds to help Nima make bond after his arrest.
3:05 p.m.
Khazar Momeni was excused as a witness after answering a few questions from the jury via the judge. We have a new witness on the stand: Aaron Escarrega, who was general sales manager of BMW San Francisco back in May 2023.
2:15 p.m.
After the mid-morning break, Krista Lee reacted to Khazar Momeni's testimony about the alleged threatening text.
Krista Lee said to reporters, "My husband was murdered. She has no right to make herself a victim in this when our family was the one that got murdered. She can go f- herself," before storming away.
KTVU's Henry Lee captured the moment on video.
Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon asked the jurors one by one to see if they witnessed Lee's outburst, which took some time. Judge Robert Gordon decided to break early for lunch.
Krista Lee and her former father-in-law and brother-in-law had a one-on-one with the judge. None appeared perturbed.
After lunch, the DA asked Khazar Momeni some more questions. The defense did some re-cross, asking Khazar Momeni if she was an attorney, attended law school, or if she was familiar with the rules of evidence in a trial. Khazar Momeni answered no to all questions, and defense attorney Zangeneh made a dig to the DA, saying "For the record, that was three no's in a row."
Both sides have finished questioning Khazar Momeni, but multiple jurors had questions for her. Jurors handed their written questions to the bailiff who handed them to the judge, but before the judge and attorneys retreated to the chambers to review the questions, Khazar Momeni, still on the stand, asked if she could ask a question.
Khazar Momeni told Judge Robert Gordon she was prevented from answering a question about Bob Lee's personality and the judge responded saying they would have to leave it at that.
She was excused as a witness after answering a few questions from the jury.
A new witness is on the stand: Aaron Escarrega, the former general sales manager of BMW San Francisco in May 2023.
10:30 a.m.
Prosecutor Dane Reinstedt is grilling Khazar Momeni about a text message she has described as being intimidating and harassing and coming from Lee's family.
The DA says this was a text message from Bob Lee's ex-wife that was sent to a friend of hers.
That friend then screen-shotted the message and forwarded in a three-person group text to a friend of Khazar Momeni, asking if that friend could help locate Khazar Momeni. That message apparently also called Khazar Momeni "a name," according to the DA.
"They were intimidating and threatening me," she testified today.
The DA repeatedly tried to get her to agree that the text wasn't sent directly to her that it was "multiple steps removed," that is, it wasn't a message sent directly from Lee's ex-wife to Khazar Momeni.
10 a.m.
Khazar Momeni, the defendant's sister, is back on the stand for more questions from the DA.
Prosecutors are doubling down on their belief that she's been responding to DA questions with "I don't remember" or attributing her haziness to her drug use and "bad decisions."
By contrast, the DA has argued she's been repeatedly saying "yes" to leading questions from the defense. (Leading questions are allowed in cross-examination).
At one point, prosecutor Dane Reinstedt, alluding to her having testified about "seeing colors" after using LSD, asked her, "How can you be sure what's real and what's not real in what you're experiencing?"
Her answer, "I don't know how to answer that question." A little later, amid multiple objections by defense attorneys, she said, "I'm not trying to lie. I'm telling the truth."
Oct. 22, 2024
4:27 p.m.
The defense wraps its questioning of Khazar Momeni. The prosecution took its turn with the witness and that's when tempers began to flare. The D.A. repeatedly suggested she was simply saying, "yes" immediately to all defense questions and prompts to videos they showed her. Khazar rejected that assertion, as did the defense, in the form of numerous objections and sidebars with Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon. The judge reminded the jurors it would be up to them to weigh what they saw on videos and that nothing any attorney said was considered evidence.
12:10 p.m.
Khazar Momeni testified Bob Lee had angrily texted her the evening before he died, "If you don't get in my Uber with me, I'll never talk to you again." The defense is trying to paint a portrait that a drug-addled Lee was upset that evening, not because of any perceived safety issues with Lee's dealer, but instead Lee was trying to get Khazar to hang with him. This text exchange happened before Khazar says Lee's dealer gave her too many drugs and had slapped her.
11:15 a.m.
She testified that she, Lee and Lee's alleged drug dealer were all drinking and doing drugs that night. The defense is trying to portray Lee as someone on a multi-day drug bender who initially came at Nima Momeni with a knife, only to have Momeni take over the knife and fatally stab Lee in self-defense. The prosecution believes the defendant believed his sister had been given too many drugs and was the victim of sexual misconduct at the hands of Lee's dealer and stabbed Lee.
She confirmed photos shown by the defense depicting Bo Mohazzabi taking numerous hits from a nitrous oxide canister. Mohazzabi has previously testified Nima Momeni sounded upset and accusatory in a phone call to Lee, demanding to know what drugs his sister had taken.
She made clear she never told her brother that Lee had done anything to her, that the source of her angst was Lee's alleged drug dealer, whom she believed had given her too many drugs and had touched her on her behind
11:11 a.m.
The defense has begun its questioning of Khazar Momeni, their client's sister. It's her third day on the stand. The defense has been asking her to confirm surveillance video and texts showing the movements of her, Lee and Lee's alleged drug dealer on the night before Lee was killed. She testified at one point, Lee had texted her that he was bringing a "tank" of nitrous oxide and that "it'll cost you a blow j--." She had previously testified she and Lee never had a sexual relationship.
Oct. 21, 2024
12:08 p.m.
In one line of questioning, a prosecutor flashed a text message between Khazar Momeni and her brother, defendant Nima Momeni that suggested he was using "blow" or cocaine. She responded in court, "I can see how you're trying to connect this..but you're wrong. He was totally fine that weekend."
11 a.m.
Khazar Momeni, sister of defendant Nima Momeni, is back on the stand for direct examination by the prosecution. She has reiterated that she was under the influence of drugs, including GHB, LSD and nitrous oxide on the night her friend Bob Lee was killed. She says she was under the influence of drugs for at least a week after Lee's death.
Oct. 17, 2024
3:30 p.m.
The prosecution asked Khazar to confirm that at one point she had texted her brother and called him "f------ psychotic." She said yes but noted, "We're brother and sister. We brother and sister. We're bickering when we talk, and then we make up."
2:45 p.m.
Khazar Momeni confirmed under questioning that she had been using cocaine and nitrous oxide the day before Lee was killed.
2:25 p.m.
Accused murderer Nima Momeni's sister Khazar Momeni is now taking the stand. She walked into the courtroom with their mother.
12:12 p.m.
Court is on a lunch break.
11:50 a.m.
Mohazzabi acknowledges that Bob Lee may have called "escorts" when he was with him. Defense attorney Saam Zangeneh asked him if he was aware that the reason Nima Momeni called Lee in an accusatory fashion was because he believed Momeni's sister and a friend had been drugged. Mohazzabi said this was the first time he heard of this. The defense is trying to undercut Mohazzabi's description of Momeni as being an "overprotective brother."
11:30 a.m.
The defense is trying to whittle away at Bo Mohazzabi's credibility, trying to catch him in inconsistencies and getting him to begrudgingly admit that what appeared to be cocaine and Whip-It nitrous oxide canisters were present at a party that Bob Lee attended hours before he was killed.
The defense wants to paint a portrait that Lee was high on drugs and intoxicated at the time he was killed (which is supported by medical examiner's autopsy), buttressing the defense theory that Lee came at Momeni with a knife, only to have Momeni take the knife away from Lee and kill Lee in self-defense.
9:50 a.m.
Day 4 of the trial began on Thursday with Bo Mohazzabi on that stand being cross-examined by Momeni's primary defense attorney.
October 16
12:10 p.m.
CSI Officer Check has been excused. Her testimony is over. Court is now on a lunch break.
11:30 a.m.
The defense continued to cross-examine SFPD's crime scene investigator Rosalyn Check.
The defense brought out a preliminary-hearing transcript in hopes of pointing out an inconsistency in Check's testimony regarding the knife. "At any point was handle tested for fingerprint evidence?" Her answer, "Any sort of swabbing for fingerprints would have destroyed fingerprints and any swabbing would have affected DNA quality."
Several jurors handed written questions to bailiff to hand to judge.
October 15
4:10 p.m.
Judge ends court for the day. Court will resume on Wednesday at 9:45 a.m.
3:54 p.m.
The defense is questioning the accuracy of the official diagram of the crime scene.
"You didn't take the measurements, but you signed off on it as if is true and accurate?"
3:34 p.m.
The defense begins its cross-examination of Check.
Defense attorney Mike McMullin said a lot of the evidence Check has gone over is blood droplet evidence from the scene, but the evidence doesn't "tell us if Mr. Lee was the aggressor, do they?"
3:15 p.m.
Testimony resumes, as Check details how she proceeded collecting DNA evidence from the knife.
2:50 p.m.
Check looked at the bloody knife for fingerprints and DNA. She said the blade was a good place to look for fingerprints and DNA. The handle was rubber, and wouldn't be a good source of fingerprints because they would absorb into the material.
Afternoon break until 3:05 p.m.
2:38 p.m.
On the day of the crime, at about 2 p.m., crime scene techs went to Bob Lee's hotel room where they found multiple empty alcohol bottles. When prosecutors asked why they went to the room she responded that at the time it was a "whodunnit... our goal was to get in there and find anything, fingerprints, DNA, anything that could lead us to a suspect."
2:28 p.m.
Crime scene techs also took a video of the crime scene. A nine-minute long video begins with a shot zooming into the bloody knife on the ground, then walking along the interior of the CalTrans yard where the knife was found, out the gate and onto Main St.
The camera focuses on evidence markers and blood droplets on Main St. The camera then goes north on Main St. following the path investigators say Bob Lee walked after he was stabbed, pausing to show blood droplets on the ground. The blood stains become more pronounced as they progress on the street.
As the video played, Momeni watched closely, taking notes and conferring with his attorneys.
The video shows bloody smears on a white wall along the route Bob Lee walked after he was stabbed and several large blood stains and smears on the call box at the Portside apartment where he tried to get help.
The video closes showing a vape device on the ground.
2:13 p.m.
Check testified that she brought evidence back to her lab to process, including the bloody knife. She photographed the knife in a sterile environment.
1:57 p.m.
Check also leads jurors along a blood trail leading up Main St. She told jurors the blood trail got thicker and more pronounced as Bob Lee's heart beat harder and faster to keep him alive and as his clothing became saturated with blood.
1:40 p.m.
Check testifies that she photographed a knife that officers spotted at the scene. The photograph shows three traffic cones in a triangle with crime scene tape around them to block off the area and a knife on the ground.
A second and third photo show the knife closer, with a tape measure to show the size of the knife. The blade appears to be about 3 inches long, the handle about 4 inches long with an apparent blood stain on the blade of the knife. (edited)
1:37 p.m.
Court reconvenes with Check on the witness stand.
12:00 p.m.
Break for lunch until 1:30 p.m.
11:59 a.m.
When Check arrived at the scene, there were two critical pieces of evidence when she arrived on the scene. They were the knife and a bloody trail. She said it appeared that only one victim had been stabbed, and there were not multiple blood trails.
11:51 a.m.
After establishing her credentials, Check said she was called to the scene at about 8 a.m. She said the evidence was "in a broad horseshoe shaped scene." The whole 400 block of Main St. was shut down for the investigation.
11:37 a.m.
The prosecution called Rosalyn Check, an SFPD officer assigned to the Crime Scene Investigation unit.
11:35 a.m.
McIntosh was excused from the stand.
11:34 a.m.
The judge reads a question from jurors about the directions of the streets. Jurors also wanted to know what day of the week. Based on the videos, McIntosh says he believes it was a Tuesday.
11:31 a.m.
Jurors can now ask questions of witnesses. At least one juror had a question. The judge asked jurors to write their questions down and give them to a deputy who would then bring them to the judge. The judge said she will discuss with attorneys on both sides to see if the witness, McIntosh, can answer the question.
11:29 a.m.
The defense asks if there were people in the area, and said there was a large residential building nearby, with cameras and windows and balconies.
11:27 a.m.
Prosecutors are now questioning McIntosh. Officers looked at the most relevant videos to try to determine what happened. That doesn't mean that McIntosh has seen every video shot in the area around the time of Bob Lee's death. He said while there was some vehicle and foot traffic in the neighborhood, it was a "quiet" area at the time of the stabbing.
11:24 a.m.
Khazar Elyassnia, Momeni's sister, was seen coming into court and escorted through another courtroom. Due to the length of cross-examination McIntosh, Elyassnia may not give her testimony on Tuesday.
10:52 a.m.
The transcript of the 911 call was handed to the jury, but it was taken back as it is not evidence, just a tool to follow along with the 911 call.
10:30 a.m.
Zangeneh is asking Sgt. McIntosh about an unhoused man who was discovered to have been sleeping in the area the night of the incident and about video captured by nearby security cameras.
The defense shows a video shot at Portside Apartments on Main Street and asked Sgt. McIntosh if the CalTrans parking lot appeared to be illuminated, and if he or any SFPD officers questioned any workers or passersby captured on video close to the scene around the time of the incident.
10:13 a.m.
Defense Attorney Saam Zangeneh begins cross-examination. He asks Sgt. McIntosh about conditions the night of the killing and shows photos of the area the night of the incident.
10 a.m.
Testimony resumed Tuesday morning around 10 a.m. The court had a late start this morning after one of the jurors called in to say they'd be late today. The judge said this was OK, but urged the jurors to try to be on time since the trial cannot proceed without all of them present. Testimony from Sgt. McIntosh, one of the first officers to the crime scene, resumed. Prosecutors are showing body-worn camera footage of officers discovering the knife on the night of the homicide.
October 14
4 p.m.
Under cross-examination, Officer Rinaldi cannot remember who set up cones and tape around the knife officers discovered in the Caltrans lot. He's excused from the stand and prosecutors call SFPD Sgt. Paul McIntosh to the stand. McIntosh says security guard at 403 Main Street showed him video that was picked up by cameras on the building. The video shows Bob Lee at the building. Prosecutors play the video from that night. Video shows the exterior/front of 403 Main Street at about 2:35 a.m. The video shows Bob Lee stumble into the frame and collapse on the ground. Then he gets up.
In court, Momeni watches the video closely and takes notes.
3:08 p.m.
Court is back in session.
Assistant District Attorney Reinstedt begins playing the body-worn camera of the first officers on scene.
"Hey, who did this to you, where are you stabbed, man?" jurors hear on the video. Officers can be seen giving CPR. Bob Lee's family members watch the video, partially covering their faces and leaning in to one another.
The video shows Lee unresponsive on the ground. Momeni does not watch the entire video, instead he appears to be writing, and occasionally looking up at the video.
2:46 p.m.
The defense raises questions about why the video from Officer Jackson's bodyworn camera is being shown as Officer Rinaldi testified. The judge takes the afternoon break before playing the video and will take that time to consider the issue.
Afternoon break.
2:43 p.m.
As the case is underway, prosecutors quietly come to Bob Lee's family before playing the video, to let them know that they can leave the room if they choose to because of the nature of the video.
2:39 p.m.
Back on the record, Rinaldi confirms that he took several photos of Bob Lee on the ground the night he died.
The photos appear to show Bob Lee, lying on his back, with his shirt pulled up slightly and red and blue lights. Rinaldi confirms he and others were using bodyworn cameras when they responded to the scene.
2:37 p.m.
Prosecutors establish that SFPD Joseph Rinaldi was dispatched to the 911 call. Rinaldi used GPS to track down Bob Lee, and found him unresponsive on the ground with bloody clothes.
Rinaldi said he took photos of the scene. Before the photos are shown to the jury, the defense asks for a sidebar. Prosecutors and defense attorneys go into the judge's chambers.
2:29 p.m.
Prosecutor Dane Reinstedt is beginning the examination of Officer Rinaldi.
2:25 p.m.
Prosecutors call SFPD Joseph Rinaldi to the witness stand. He was on patrol for SFPD Southern Station on the night Bob Lee was killed.
2:21 p.m.
Family members of Bob Lee hold their heads in their hands and rub their eyes as a recording of his 911 call is played in court.
On the call, Bob Lee can be heard repeatedly asking for help and seems unable to answer the dispatcher's questions about where he is. After several minutes, sirens can be heard as San Francisco police officers arrive to assist Lee.
2:11 p.m.
Defense to the jury: "Pay attention to the evidence. At 2:30 that morning, Nima Momeni was forced to defend himself and forced to stand his ground. That's how the evidence is presented."
The defense ends its opening statement.
The judge asks if prosecutors would like to begin presenting evidence, which prosecutors respond with a yes. Prosecutors will play and give the jury a transcript of Bob Lee's 911 call.
2:03 p.m.
"People on these long term cocaine benders are aggressive, they use violence," said the defense.
2 p.m.
The defense said it was a case of self-defense. The defense say that Nima Momeni had extensive martial arts training and used it when he was attacked by Bob Lee.
"We're going to show you how, at around 2:30 a.m. after a 90-hour drug-fueled bender, Bob Lee, with his right hand, took a knife out of his pocket in an aggressive manner to attack Nima," the defense said.
1:53 p.m.
Momeni's attorney, Saam Zangeneh, is working to poke holes in the motive prosecutors laid out. "The hours leading up to this, this motive they're trying to tell you, doesn't exist, and we have the text messages between Bob and Nima to prove it," he said.
1:30 p.m.
Court resumes.
Momeni's defense attorney, Saam Zangeneh begins his opening statements. Zangeneh said the victim, Bob Lee, only had six hours of sleep in a 91-hour period because of cocaine use.
11:45 a.m.
"What does the knife tell us? Well, there is something, ladies and gentlemen, called DNA and the DNA here tells us a whole hell of a lot," prosecutor Omid Talai said, adding that Lee's blood is on the knife blade.
"And what do you think we learned about who was holding that knife, whose DNA is on the handle of the Joseph Joseph kitchen knife that was used to kill Bob Lee?" Talai asked. "The defendant."
"We will ask you at the end of this trial to convict the defendant of murder," Talai said to the jury.
Prosecution ends opening statements. Court to reconvene at 1:30 p.m.
11:30 a.m.
The judge welcomed jurors back in, and told them that while she is wearing a medical mask, they do not have to if they don't want to.
"As the last mask-wearing judge in San Francisco Superior court, I reserve the right to change that as we track flu and COVID numbers."
11 a.m.
The defense objects repeatedly as the prosecutor reads a text exchange between Nima Momeni and his sister, Khazar Momeni.
"This text was sent between two people who had no idea that a jury would be reading them," defense attorney Sam Zangana said.
Prosecutors say Momeni was already trying to establish a story by saying to his sister that he dropped Bob Lee off at a strip club or bar.
Sister Khazar Momeni's text read "Nima, you're f--king psychotic sometimes."
10:30 a.m.
Opening statements
Lead prosecutor Omid Talai begins opening statements by telling the jurors that Lee was "stabbed through the heart and left to die."
Talai continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, you are seated in court with a murderer... a coward who stabbed a man three times."
The prosecutor says one of the upcoming witnesses came over to hang out with Lee the day before the killing and there was cocaine present as well as nitrous oxide.
Momeni then gets on the phone and asks what was happening with his sister. A witness overheard Momeni asking: "What about the girls getting naked?"
According to the prosecutor, Momeni thought something happened at the get-together and he was going to do something about it.
Lee went to the Millennium building to his sister's condo. They leave shortly before 2 a.m. A camera in the building hotel picks them up, and they are seen getting into Momeni's white BMW.
"But the defendant does not drive Bob home," Talai said. "He takes him here, on the 400 block of Main Street with the Bay Bridge overhead with no one and nothing around…Bob dies about a block from here."
Talai said that "all of a sudden," Momeni advances toward Lee, and then speeds home to the East Bay 14 minutes later.
When the police get to the scene, they see a trail of blood.
Police found the murder weapon, a Joseph Joseph knife, that prosecutors say defendant threw weapon over a Caltrans fence.
Talai said that prosecutors have text evidence showing Lee texted his sister, "Hey, we gotta talk."
10 a.m.
The jury has entered Department 28.
Jurors are finding their seats and preparing to be sworn in. The clerk is standing in front of them as they find their assigned seats.
9:30 a.m.
Judge has reconsidered cameras in court, says she has reconsidered and has reached same conclusion: no photography and no recording
The judge says at least one juror has raised concerns about safety post-trial
9 a.m.
Opening statements are set to begin Monday morning from the San Francisco courthouse. Momeni, who has pleaded not guilty, faces 26 years to life if convicted. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon has told jurors the trial could last until mid-December.
Momeni, who lives in nearby Emeryville, California, has been in custody since his arrest days after Lee died at a San Francisco hospital. Momeni’s mother has been a steadfast presence at court hearings, and he is close to his sister.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.