OAN Staff Abril Elfi
4:50 PM – Tuesday, December 17, 2024
A San Francisco jury has found Nima Momeni guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee.
On Tuesday, Nima Momeni, 40, was found guilty and convicted in Lee’s murder case. The jury acquitted him of first-degree murder, but found him guilty of second-degree murder.
Reports stated that Momeni appeared “unemotional” as the verdict was read. His leading attorney joined the hearing via Zoom. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins stated that Momeni could face “16 years to life” behind bars.
According to prosecutors, on April 4th, Momeni purportedly attacked Lee after an alleged dispute over his younger sister, Khazar, with whom Lee was close with.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Lee’s death was initially thought to be the result of random violence, especially in a city where crime is on the rise. However, his friends later suggested that it was most likely the result of the Cash App founder’s “opulent lifestyle” among the upper class of Bay Area society, where illicit drugs and promiscuity are common among tech moguls.
Prosecutors claim that Momeni, a tech consultant, took a knife from his sister’s condo, drove Lee to a secluded area in a Rincon Hill neighborhood, and then stabbed him three times before fleeing.
“Stabbed through his heart and left to die,” Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai said in his opening argument to the jury, as he laid out what evidence jurors can expect.
Defense lawyers argued that Lee was “high on drugs” and out of his mind. They also claimed that he first tried to attack Momeni, and the suspect simply acted in self defense.
“Our theory is that Bob had the knife, and that Nima acted in self defense,” attorney Saam Zangeneh said.
Zangeneh noted that Momeni is very eager to tell his side of the story, but they have not yet decided whether he will testify in his defense.
Momeni has been in custody since his arrest, and Lee passed away at a San Francisco hospital soon after the attack.
Momeni’s mother, who has consistently attended court appearances, was in the courtroom on Monday along with Lee’s brother, father, and ex-wife.
In court documents, prosecutors have stated that Lee’s friend had informed homicide investigators that the day prior to the stabbing, they had been out drinking with Momeni’s sister. According to the friend, when Momeni had asked Lee if his sister was using drugs or acting inappropriately, Lee replied, maintaining that she wasn’t.
On surveillance footage from Lee’s last night, he can be seen entering Momeni’s sister’s residence at Millennium Tower downtown, where she lives with her husband, a plastic surgeon in San Francisco.
After two in the morning, Lee and Momeni are seen on camera exiting the building together and taking off in Momeni’s vehicle. At around 2:30 a.m., Lee was discovered in San Francisco’s Rincon Hill neighborhood, which is home to both tech companies and condominiums.
At the scene, police soon found a knife with a 4-inch blade and Momeni’s DNA was found on the weapon’s handle, according to the prosecution. Lee’s DNA was also found on the bloody blade.
The defense has argued that the police should have looked for Lee’s fingerprints on the handle.
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