The man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco last year remained on the stand Thursday for another round of contentious cross-examination by prosecutors.
Nima Momeni has pleaded not guilty to the murder and claims he was defending himself against the killing an attack by Lee during a drug-fueled rage that ended with Lee being fatally stabbed in San Francisco’s Rincon Hill/East Cut neighborhood. Prosecutors allege Momeni stabbed Lee with a kitchen knife taken from his sister Khazar Momeni’s apartment.
On Wednesday, Momeni was called to the stand by his defense team as he presented his version of the deadly encounter with Lee, insisting the technology executive became enraged a bad joke that Momeni had made about Lee being more interested in going to a strip club than spending more time with his family on his last night in town.
Momeni said that when Lee attacked him, he tried to prevent Lee’s arm from holding that knife and pressed it against Lee’s chest, causing him to push back twice. He claimed he did not know Lee was injured and said he appeared to be walking away from the confrontation while talking on his cell phone.
Momeni returned to the witness stand Thursday and spoke repeatedly with the prosecutor, who questioned the suspect’s version of the story and focused on his actions immediately after Lee’s death, including his calls to lawyers and text messages with his sister.
Prosecutors pressed Momeni on why Lee would have reacted with such anger, where he was prepared to physically attack him, when Momeni had previously testified that his conversations with Lee had been positive.
San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai sought to expose inconsistencies in Momeni’s testimony and questioned why the suspect had not contacted police if Bob Lee was the attacker. Momeni said at one point he thought Lee could have had a separate confrontation with someone else that led to his death.
Talai also asked why he contacted criminal defense attorneys himself if he thought he had nothing to do with Lee’s death. Momeni replied that it was to defend herself.
The conversations between the Public Prosecution Service and Momeni often heated up on Thursday. The judge was repeatedly forced to intervene to simmer tensions and one of Momeni’s lawyers even intervened to remind his client to answer the questions.
Prosecutors also revisited text messages Momeni sent to his sister about pursuing a rape case against Bob Lee, days after he had already been found dead. That’s even after Momeni said he was sad and heartbroken to hear of Lee’s passing.
Momeni’s sister texted around the same time: “Bob never touched me, no one did.”
“It doesn’t necessarily seem reasonable for a juror that he would prosecute a rape case against someone who had died and Nima Momeni was sad that he died,” said defense attorney Shannan Dugan, who watched in the courtroom. “It’s something that can’t be explained in a meaningful way, and it could cause the jury to doubt some of his testimony.”
During his testimony, Momeni also reiterated that he felt the SFPD lied and mischaracterized him and other evidence. When Momeni was asked what exactly he thought was wrong, he could not give a clear answer.
Bob Lee’s brother Timothy Oliver Lee on Thursday reiterated his claims that Momeni’s testimony makes no sense.
‘You’ve seen him aggressive in the stands. You saw him try to take control of this room,” he said. “The Momeni family trying to act morally superior here is ridiculous in every way possible. This arrogant and entitled person is really just trying to take his deplorable actions and his reprehensible actions to end a life, and then 18 months later try to turn them into something that will keep him out of jail.”
Momeni will remain on the stand on Monday as the jury may submit questions to the defendant that the judge and the two legal teams will read through to determine which questions will be read in court. There may also be additional questions from both the prosecution and the defense.
